It’s not every day that Caesars Entertainment CEO Gary Loveman has a good idea. But when he does, it’s a real brainwave. Such has proven to be the case with Caesars’ purchase of social-gaming Web firm Playtika. The latter has blown past wildly overhyped Zynga to become the leader in its field. Seems that Farmville and Mafia Wars were no match for Slotomania or Bingo Blitz. The market could hit $2 billion this year. That’s peanuts compared to tribal gaming alone, but the growth arc is amazingly steep. Caesars gambled on Playtika when it was still a risky venture, then doubled down by purchasing a content provider, Buffalo Studios. This makes up somewhat for the company’s inability to get Caesars Interactive out of the starting blocks, while Ultimate Poker laps it time and time again. However, the Playtika/Buffalo parlay was a prudent risk. While MGM Resorts International and International Game Technology are having a rocky ride with Zynga, it’s all smooth sailing aboard Playtika, it seems.
Speaking of MGM, casino regulators in Maryland have been spending quality time in China. Their brief: Have a closer look at MGM’s Macao operation and its tortured relationship with Pansy Ho. (Sauce for the Goose Dept.: Penn National Gaming is also getting its linens inspected.) Since Pansy is now a minority shareholder in MGM Grand Paradise and mobbed-up father Stanley Ho is more or less a vegetable, it’s difficult to imagine the the Maryland State Lottery & Gaming Control Agency and assorted law-enforcement groups turning up any dead bodies, so to speak … although junket operators and the Triads who love them could always present a problem. But S&G thinks otherwise.
If you can’t bring the casino to the highway … bring the highway to the casino. Foxwoods Massachusetts is proposing to reroute three and a half miles of I-495 and build a second arterial road to alleviate congestion as gamblers 
theoretically flock to its still-theoretical Massachusetts casino. One presumes the $1 billion casino will pick up the $100 million tab, but the answer is buried in a deep stack of online paperwork. Scoffers say the project could take as many as 20 years, while supporters think it will be done in four. If Milford wants the casino and gets the nod from the Massachusetts Gaming Commission, we’re still talking about a three-year process or so, at least, so what’s the hurry?
And, hey, look who’s turned up as Foxwoods’ new talking head: It’s David Nunes, the all-hat, no-cattle developer who briefly had a rival casino bid that consisted of a butt-ugly rendering, much talk and little capitalization. Presumably his job is to put a local face on a carpetbagging project. After all, two of Massachusetts’ three casino licenses could be awarded to Connecticut tribes. That wouldn’t go down so well.
Other than a day spa, the plans for Neil Bluhm‘s proposed Millbury slot parlor look very bare-bones. And don’t use the high-taxes excuse on us, Neil: We’ve seen you build fancier casinos in states with even loftier levies (Illinois, Pennsylvania). This just makes you look cheap. Assuming that Bluhm’s somewhat underwhelming plan placates city fathers and citizens alike, it bids fair to be the weakest entrant in the Bay State’s slot-parlor contention.
MGM, you just got anted up in western Massachusetts, where Hard Rock International is playing for keeps in West Springfield. Its draft host-community agreement 
includes a novel enticement: An 0.75% of gross revenues bonus that would rotate annually amongst several surrounding communities, including MGM’s civic partner, Springfield. Whether the bounty is enough to sway selectmen or voters, it’s hard to say. Compared to the dollar figures being flung about Massachusetts these days it’s paltry or realistic, depending on your perspective. Hard Rock also has to pony “surrounding impact payments,” so it’s not getting off cheaply. Still, Chicopee Mayor Michael D. Bissonnette has made it known that $3.4 million every six years isn’t enough. Pay Chicopee three mil every year and then he’ll be ready to talk.
Christmas wish. The ever-luckless Mashpee Wampanoags, whose case for casino eligibility looks awfully porous, will now have to wait until either just before or after Santa Claus comes calling, if they’re to have a decision from the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Not that this keeps the Mashpee Wamps from blowing sunshine up our butts. Also, as the Tail-End Charlie in the race to get a casino, the Wampanoag tribe would likely have to scrape for funding, everybody else having gotten to the bank first. Anyway, I think when you’re clinging to a 1783 treaty with King George III as your ace in the hole, it’s just about time to fold ’em.
