In a real shocker, residents of West Springfield rejected Hard Rock International — and $18 million a year. Local media obligingly regurgitated over and over again Hard Rock-sourced poll numbers that showed the casino eking out a narrow win. When the votes were counted, however, the result was the other way around and not close. The opposition was overwhelmingly outspent but zealous, turning out to have the superior “ground game.” Hard Rock bore its humiliation with grace, while lead activist Nathan Bech took a victory lap. Next, he heads to Palmer to try and do to Mohegan Sun what he did to Hard Rock. The Mohegans’ offer is, on a per-capital basis, so incredibly “george,” that he will have a tougher row to hoe there. For its part, Hard Rock could strike at the southeastern region of the state, where the Mashpee Wampanoags look to be as a long a shot as ever.
Bech’s political aspirations are certain to get a boost from yesterday’s vote while Hard Rock CEO James Allen has to ponder What Went Wrong. Promising a game-changer and delivering a design that looks like a Clarion Inn might have been part of the problem. But seriously … local resentment of the host site, Eastern States Expo, does seem to have played a role. As for opponents, if MGM Resorts International gets the western-Massachusetts concession, they might do well to remember the prophecy that West Springfield would get many of the consequences of having a casino in the area — but little of the money.
Penn National Gaming, however, has reason to break out the bubbly today: Voters in Plainville overwhelmingly voted in favor of a host-community agreement for Plainridge Race Track. Since the Massachusetts Gaming Commission — by its own 
admission — overstepped its authority in reassigning the bid to Penn National without restarting the clock on the 30-to-60-day campaign period, this could easily have gone to court. But with a crushing, 76% majority in its favor, Penn is extremely unlikely to encounter further opposition.
Credit Neil Bluhm with being better at counting noses than Hard Rock was. S&G predicted that his slot-parlor bid in Millbury was the likeliest to be voted down — a hunch shared by Bluhm himself. He told reporters, “we decided that for this particular project, we should move forward only if community support was overwhelming. It is not our style to campaign aggressively and win a referendum narrowly.” So he leaves $50K on the table and moves along. There’s still time — not much — for Bluhm to find a hospitable city and get an HCA done and voted upon. However, his Rush Street Gaming looks like the Flying Dutchman of Massachusetts’ nascent casino industry, doomed never to find a home.
