Bluhm presses case in Massachusetts; Lawrence Ho tells it like it is

Despite having to wait at least until early next year to start building, a potential Brockton casino could be “up and running by 2018,” sometime in the second quarter, according to Neil Bluhm. “We are shovel-ready to go.” Unfortunately for Bluhm, the sluggish Massachusetts Gaming Commission is far from gavel-ready to approve the project. Chairman Stephen Crosby voiced mild skepticism about Bluhm’s financing and the economic viability of the project.

He also continued to flash some ankle, in hopes of getting a fantasy competitor into the running. “We want to know what we can get from the commercial markets before we make the final decision on whether to proceed or not,” he rationalized. In other (unsurprising) business, the MGC assented to MGM Resorts International‘s request to postpone MGM Springfield until September 2018. This will cost the state $125 million in taxes on which it was banking but opening the casino while work continues on the adjacent I-91 viaduct would, it is generally agreed, be catastrophic. The Gov. Charlie Baker (R, left) administration is optimistic that the viaduct can be finished but MGM Springfield President Michael Mathis pointed to the unlikelihood of public works projects to finish on schedule. (Casinos, too.)

* Former dentist Vincent Michael Malfitano underwent some regulatory root canal at the hands of the Nevada Gaming Control Board and came away without the license he sought for two small Virginia City casinos. Malfitano evidently didn’t think it pertinent to disclose tax liens or having obstructed a police officer. Would that the NGCB had shown the same discipline to Sam Nazarian as it did to this miscreant.

* Defying the ordained wisdom of the moment, Melco Crown Entertainment CEO Lawrence Ho says non-gaming attractions will always be a loss-leader in Macao. Or, as he puts it, “The cold hard truth is, non-gaming doesn’t make any money and it will never make any money.  For all the foolish people out there that think non-gaming is going to save the day, it’s not … Unless Macao wants to pick itself up and move to Las Vegas, it’s never going to change.”

* No matter what comes out of Donald Trump‘s mouth, it seems to be good for business at his non-gaming properties … at least if Donald Trump Jr. is to be believed.

* Illinois may soon have a new casino player at the table, if the Prairie Band Potowatomi Nation can get land taken into trust near Shabbona, making for the state’s first tribal casino.  DeKalb County has been supportive so far.