Election ’14: The day after

MGM Resorts International didn’t wait for the ballots to get cold. It had equipment on site in downtown Springfield yesterday, conducting “geotechnical soil assessments” on the future site of the parking garage. Laying out a timeline for the project MGM Springfield President Michael Mathis said, “Before year’s end we will finalize critical construction permits and close on real estate transactions, including 1200 Main Street and 73 State Street. Additionally, in early 2015 we will announce our general contractor.” Today, the Massachusetts Gaming Commission voted unanimously to grant MGM its license, a privilege for which the company will pay $85 million. It’s appropriate that the vote was across the board as this has always been the least controversial of the Massachusetts casino proposals. With the Springfield and Plainville licenses issued, and Everett in the offing, the MGC can turn its attention to the vexing question of the southeast region.

* In a surprise post-electoral development, Georgia lawmakers revealed that they are contemplating putting casinos on Hutchinson Island. In a Stephens vs. Stephens clash, Rep. Mickey Stephens (D) favors deciding the matter via a local referendum while Rep. Ron Stephens (R) would use the the existence of the Georgia Lottery to establish a pro-casino precedent. It is, he said, merely a matter of extending what the Lottery is defined as allowing — say, slot machines in addition to scratch-off numbers. “I am absolutely convinced it would be an explosion of growth,” said the GOP Stephens, who would dedicate the proceeds to the state’s HOPE scholarship program. Savannah Mayor Edna Jackson sides with the Democratic Stephens, favoring self-determination.

* Give Sheldon Adelson credit. Usually the bearer of the political kiss of death, he backed winners in this year’s elections and it will be redound to the benefit of his efforts to stymie Internet gaming. Efforts to legalize online poker are expected to be bottled up in Congress at the very least and the dampening effect is effected to make itself felt at the state level, too. It does not help that Internet gambling has failed to be the golden goose for state budgets.

People keep saying that this will all change when PokerStars — and its customer base — enters the fray, but it’s taking a heckuva long time. “There’s little interest amongst the states at this point given lower budget deficits and power moving back to GOP. California is still the big domino, in our view, but it doesn’t appear that they’re any closer,” said Macquarie Securities analyst Chad Beynon. In the meantime, look for Sen. Lindsey Graham (R) to make mischief in the Senate with his proposed reinstatement of the Federal Wire Act. If that gets through, the games are over — for everybody.

* This probably wasn’t the right moment for Caesars Interactive to get fined $10,000 for marketing to 250-plus self-excluded gamblers, handing the enemy a propaganda victory. To Caesars’ credit, it discovered the blunder and blew the whistle on itself. Caesars Interactive Vice President of Communications Seth Palansky blamed a since-fixed computer glitch, adding, “We can assure the public that this lapse on our part was not an intentional targeting of these patrons, but simply a back-end software issue that failed to properly scrub our database before certain mailings.” This isn’t Caesars Interactive’s first mishap in New Jersey: Billboards advertising online play didn’t legibly include the 1-800-GAMBLER self-help number. That misstep cost the company $3,000. Given the lean New Jersey market, these fines could put a real dent in Caesars’ online earnings.

* In a related story, Pala Interactive, the Internet arm of California‘s Pala Casino & Spa will begin offering online gambling … in Atlantic City. Regulators have approved the Pala Band of Mission Indians to partner with Borgata, the top-performing platform in the state. Borgata’s other Internet partner, bwin.party, used to be run by Pala Interactive CEO Jim Ryan, which gives this development some symmetry. (Look for the site to go live within the next month.) He hopes that passing stringent New Jersey licensure will give the company street cred back home, which still remains the market of priority. It’s been biding its time in the Golden State for the past 18 months. Said Ryan, “The California market is one we are focused on. We began building this product in the hopes that there would be [a regulated Internet gambling market] in California.”