If you’ve been following developments in the Bay State, you’ll have noticed casino developers coming right down to the wire in negotiating host community agreements. That leaves them precious little time for the impact-abating surrounding-community agreements they must also ink. This has not escaped the notice of the Massachusetts Gaming Commission. The latter is contemplating an extension of the deadlines. It’s a choice that’s not a choice: “there had yet to be a single surrounding community agreement reached with any city or town in the state,” reports The Associated Press. Binding arbitration has also been mooted. And those of us who are waiting with bated breath for announcement of the winners will have to possess our souls in patience a little bit longer.
“Cautious” optimism is the watchword of the day in Palmer, where Mohegan Sun is looking toward Nov. 5 with a mix of confidence and slight trepidation. After all, who saw Hard Rock International‘s upset loss in West Springfield coming? That’s why CEO Mitchell Etess is talking up the water park, bowling alley and putt-putt golf course he hopes to bring to Palmer, calling the development “a sports-oriented venue.”
He’s also having to tamp down speculation that what he’ll really do is build a quick-and-dirty “feeder” property that functions as a satellite to Mohegan HQ in Uncasville. As proposed, the casino/resort would have a lot more “wow” factor than Hard Rock’s did and the deal proposed by Etess would be pretty “george” for Palmer residents, so a loss on Election Day would come as a very great surprise.
The Gaming Commission, meanwhile, is indicating an unwillingness to even open the state’s slot parlor without a larger state police presence in place. And in “the final throws [sic]” of the Boston mayoral race, one candidate is raising the volume of anti-casino invective. Erroneously claiming that casinos provide low-paying, part-time jobs, Suffolk District Attorney Daniel Conley trotted out a litany of tired canards. Conley claims to be on the fence but his rhetoric gives the lie to that statement.
