Well that’s torn it. MGM Resorts International has gone from being a shoo-in for a Massachusetts casino license to asking the state to delay its decision. That means Massachusetts is short some $200 million (including an $85 million licensing fee). Why? Because MGM wisely doesn’t want to pay for a license of which it could be stripped in a referendum. Right now, it’s in the hands of the state Supreme Judicial Court, which will decide whether a casino-repeal measure goes onto the ballot. And if it does, the uncertainty extends into November.
That means no construction work in Springfield and no mitigation payments to the city and its neighbors. The do-gooder brigade has really scored an own-goal on Springfield with its holier-than-thou crusade. If they win, Springfield can kiss $800 million worth of MGM investment goodbye. The company is being quite reasonable about the whole thing, making only the mildest of statements and continuing its subsidies of the Massachusetts Gaming Commission. The Bay State, however, is out of some big bucks it has counted on for next fiscal year. Penn National Gaming, meanwhile, is taking a real gamble by proceeding with its Plainville slot parlor.
Meantime, candidates for statewide office continue to jostle for position on the casino issue. The two Democrats who would be attorney general take opposite views. Warren Tolman favors casinos — so long as they’re not in his town. (In this respect, he is a perfect microcosm of the electorate) while Maura Healey has gone from supporting the idea of a referendum to morphing into an anti-casino candidate. If elected, she promises, she “will make sure that we hold casino operators’ feet to the fire.” Republican opponent John Miller is also on the anti-casino bandwagon.
Amid the crowded gubernatorial field, Don Berwick (D) is also notable for his casino opposition. Fittingly, Healey shares the same PR firm as PAC Repeal the Casino Deal, while Tolman is, like Suffolk Downs, represented by the Northwind consulting firm. None of those apples fell far from the tree.
