It’s been a good week for Kazuo Okada. The boss of Universal Entertainment Corp. announced that investigations of him in Japan and the Philippines had closed and given 
him a clean bill of health. The probes were set off by $110,000 in Okada gifts to Filipino casino regulator Pagcor. “We consider that having received the above investigation results by investigative authorities in the Philippines and Japan – which are understood to be the place of the act and the place where the results occurred for the suspicion – the investigation will be closed due to the lack of evidence,” read a company statement, alluding to license renewals of Okada’s Aruze Corp., manufacturer of gaming devices.
Yesterday, Okada received a conditional license renewal in Mississippi. The condition is that he’s cleared of suspicion in an ongoing FBI investigation of the Filipino matter. Okada blamed all his problems on the hometown paper, the Asahi Shimbun, and on Reuters. Acting like visiting royalty, Okada yelled at reporters and refused to take questions unless they were prefaced with an apology. The closest thing he got was a Mississippi Gaming Commission assertion that it had conducted its own Okada investigation and not relied upon media coverage. As for the penumbra created by the FBI probe, MGC Executive Director Allen Godfrey said, “The allegation is very concerning to me, but until there is something I can hang my hat on I can’t act.” As for Okada, perhaps he can commiserate with Elaine Wynn about what it’s like to be railroaded off the Wynn Resorts board of directors.
* No Surprise Here Dept.: After letting applicants stew for a few days, the Massachusetts Gaming Commission extended the application deadline for the last casino license, giving New Bedford and Somerset projects extensions to get their paperwork in order. In an even more major development, KG Urban came to a host-
community agreement with New Bedford Mayor Jon Mitchell, who’s long been at odds with the developer. New Bedford will get an initial $4.5 million, followed by $12.5 million a year. What it doesn’t have is financing and KG Urban can’t look to partner Foxwoods Resort Casino for help: It’s too busy defaulting on other obligations.
While KG Urban was given until May 4, the commission was less clement toward Crossroads Massachusetts, allowing it only three weeks. Considering that this Somerset project lacks a host-community agreement, financing and an operator, it might be as good as dead. “Treat the rules like rules, not guidelines,” urged Brockton Mayor Jack Yunits, whose city got its casino proposal filed by the original, January 30 threshold. He found some sympathy on the MGC. According to the Boston Globe, “Commissioner Enrique Zuniga suggested that if the would-be developers hadn’t been able to get their ducks in a row yet, he wasn’t sure they ever would.” Fellow Commissioner Gayle Cameron, the MGC’s resident hard-liner, went even farther, questioning the viability of Massachusetts‘ southeast region for a casino.
* Flying in the face of public sentiment, Connecticut‘s Public Safety & Security Committee voted in favor of three new, joint-venture Foxwoods/Mohegan Sun casinos 15-8. Democrats are fast-tracking the bill, holding the vote just two days after a hearing on the measure. In a sop to potential host communities, the casinos would have to be approved by the local government, but there is no referendum mandated, unlike Massachusetts.
* Phil Ruffin has lost his tribal partners for a proposed Kansas casino but, undeterred, will press on.
