Foxwoods Massachusetts has most of what it needs: money, civic support, a name brand. But it doesn’t have a site. Foxwoods and Fall River have given themselves 30 days to remedy that, a tight timespan, further complicated by the likelihood that they’ll have to negotiate with multiple property owners in order to compile a footprint big enough for “a 140,000-square-foot gambling floor, approximately 20 restaurants, a 350-room hotel, a ‘name-brand’ shopping mall, an entertainment arena, a convention center and spa.” That’s a pretty tall order and would be even in Las Vegas. Factor in the number of pieces of land CEO Scott “Woody” Butera has to cobble together and one doesn’t envy him his job.
“Lackluster” was one word used to describe casino performance in Maryland, which had one of its poorest recent months of the table game era. It’s worse than it looks because Rocky Gap Casino wasn’t open a year ago. Of $66 million in revenue, Cordish Cos.’ Maryland Live was responsible for $54 million, with everyone else chipping in pocket change. Still, that statewide gross was a 33% increase from early 2013, propelled by table game revenue. Cordish’s revenues grew 49%, while Hollywood Casino Perryville brought in 16% more than last year. Somehow, I don’t think Rocky Gap’s addition of a Bonkerz Comedy Club is going to have the same fiscal punch as Cordish’s expansion of its table games area.
“Japanese spend about the same amount of money on Pachinko as they do on health care.” That’s just one of the staggering statistics that makes Japan look like a plum ripe for the picking by the casino industry. It’s a $227 billion/year industry, with a ratio of one machine to every 26 Nipponese citizens. Gambling-mad though Yankees are, we have only a 404:1 ratio of gambling devices to people. It’s actually rather surprising that Japan hasn’t legalized gaming sooner, considering that its anti-gambling laws contain a Fujiyama-sized exception for “monetary amusement.” (Whether you or the money are being amused the law does not say.)
This mixture of loopholes and official hypocrisy has nurtured a casino-ready culture, with the casino industry having the advantage of not having to send you even slightly off-site to collect your winnings. Besides, casinos would only have to collect a 5% fraction of that $227 billion poured into pachinko to emerge triumphant. Their legalization might also force Japanese leaders to come out into the sunshine and deal with the epidemic-sized problem-gambling situation in their country. Currently, they can sweep it under the rug — but having to regulate casinos may force a welcome change of policy.
