Although Wynn Resorts is keeping mum on this week’s Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruling, others are not taking it lying down. Faced with a do-or-die referendum on casino gambling in the Bay State,
MGM Resorts International promised it was “fully prepared to extend this message to a larger audience through a statewide campaign to educate the voters on the enormous economic benefits that would be lost to the taxpayers.” “We’re in this for the long haul,” added Mohegan Sun CEO Mitchell Etess. “We’re a part of a campaign that will be fighting to vote down that referendum to make sure that gaming in Massachusetts and all of the jobs and development that are associated with it take place.”
The American Gaming Association will be weighing in, too, promising to campaign alongside the affected casino companies. Penn National Gaming decided to take a gamble on the outcome of the November, vowing to proceed “full steam ahead” with its Plainridge Racecourse racino. (That takes brass balls.)
On the other side, Repeal the Casino Deal Chairman John Ribeiro was his usual pompous self. He airily proclaimed, “We know Massachusetts 
can do better than this casino mess.” With national anti-gambling groups piling on, too, this looks to be a very expensive campaign. Make no mistake, the defeat of casino proposals in numerous Massachusetts towns means there is a formidable body of activists ready to hit the streets in support of a repeal. Attorney General Martha Coakley sided with the casinos and her opponents for governor are already using the Supreme Court’s ruling as a stick with which to beat her. Legislators also have to be a bit nervous, having baked $73 million in casino bucks into the 2015 budget.
Acknowledging “an atmosphere of uncertainty,” Massachusetts Gaming Commission Chairman Stephen Crosby promised business as usual (despite calls to go slow) … if anything the MGC does could be called “usual.”
* Amaya Gaming Group hasn’t bought PokerStars yet but New Jersey regulators have begun vetting the company, with a view toward autumn licensure. Resorts Atlantic City hopes to platform both PokerStars and FullTilt Poker, plus two European companies, if everything goes off on schedule.
* Harrah’s Atlantic City has been a little careless about checking on underage players. In one case, a too-young patron was released back onto the casino floor even though security knew he was of invalid age. In another, a juvenile player’s identity wasn’t checked until he’d drunk himself unconscious. The violations earned Harrah’s a total of $60,000 in fines.
