Cordish Gaming crushed the opposition in Leominster yesterday, winning approval for a slot parlor with 61% of the vote. The campaign was notable for the personal participation of David Cordish, who went door-to-door to drum up support. The whippet-thin senior citizen pressed the flesh making his casino + Leominster = lower taxes argument. The third time really was the charm for Cordish, having been rejected in two other Massachusetts towns. Opponents, having chased Rush Street Gaming out of Millbury, tried to recycle the same campaign for Leominster, without success.
So now it’s down to Penn National Gaming, longtime adversary Cordish and Parx Casino (in partnership with Raynham Park) for one slot parlor license. Plainridge is on the doorstep of the Providence market but Cordish is a stone’s throw from New Hampshire. Penn may also be too close to resort-contending Milford for the Massachusetts Gaming Commission‘s taste. Given its relative isolation from other casino-seeking cities, Leonminster may just have an ace up its sleeve.
In an attention-getting speech, Harrah’s Atlantic City CEO Rick Mazer is 
preaching the virtues of coexistence. It’s a message that was long overdue. It’s past time that somebody said, “I would encourage you all to … start working together to bring people to Atlantic City and bring it back to what I believe it could be — the dynamic environment, the dynamic town and the natural resources that don’t exist anywhere else, including Las Vegas.” He’s been stumping the Boardwalk with that message and has at least one ally: Borgata Senior Vice President of Operations Joe Lupo. Mazer’s secondary message is for casinos to diversify their product offerings. If Mazer speaks for Caesars Entertainment — and there’s no reason to believe he doesn’t — those four properties plus Borgata make an imposing group of potential collaborators. Whether still others will go along remains to be seen, with the Atlantic Club forever in flux and Tilman Fertitta pulling the chicken switch over at the Golden Nugget. For shame, Tilman, for shame.
In what is described as its most significant gaming investment in a decade, Caesars ordered up 7,000 video poker machines from International Game Technology. It will take a lot more than new VP machines to repair the company’s evil reputation among players of the video sport. How about better paytables and faster point accruals?
Gee, I thought that Rick’s message was kind of reminiscent of Don Marrindino’s and not very new at all. Since Christie came to town, I think almost everyone is on the same page (except the Mayor) and thought that Rick was just saying more of the same. Not surprised, but good for A.C. never the less.