Making yet another overreach, Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh asserts that the only party which can decide whether Beantown is host community to Wynn Resorts‘ and Mohegan Sun‘s projects is … Boston. The Massachusetts Gaming Commission, he says, has no standing in the matter. He may even be able to find a loophole in the enabling legislation that validates his position. Settlement of such discords “was left completely unresolved in the [enabling] legislation,” says University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth casino boffin Clyde Barrow.
So put those casino plans on hold, because it looks like the Walsh/MGC dispute is headed to court. If he prevails, Walsh could drive off Wynn and Mohegan Sun by asking exorbitant amounts of money. As the Boston Globe reports, “Walsh could demand millions of dollars in compensation from each developer just to permit the projects to come to a vote.” And if things go that route, the casinos are likely to be voted down in Charles Town and East Boston. Steve Wynn and Suffolk Downs‘ Chip Tuttle have got to be wondering what they’ve gotten themselves into, with Walsh raging about unchecked. The late-June timeline for having their projects approved is now in jeopardy with no speedy end in sight.
Would you believe there are 20 to 30 potential buyers for Revel Resort out there? I suppose that will happen when your resale value tumbles to about $200 million. Revel President Scott Kreeger says none of the myriad applicants would close it down, in an obvious reference to Caesars Entertainment, known to be in the hunt.
Alabama‘s Poarch Creek Indians have to periodically stave off Manifest Destiny-minded stated officials who want to shut gambling down. However, they still managed 12% revenue growth in 2012 and increased their installed slot based 13.5%, to 4,769. Good on them. By contrast, New York State may have missed the boat on casino expansion, judging by some soft numbers.
So that’s why they wanted Crimea. Now that Russia has conquered Crimea, it has to pay for it. One upshot of this is the proposal to turn it into a casino zone. As a gaming destination, it beats the heck out of some of the remote provinces to which gambling had previously been banished. What’s the over/under on when Sheldon Adelson cozies up to Vladimir Putin and proposes Venetian Sevastopol?
29 to 30 for Revel? That’s hopeful. Why not ask Caesars if they get it, will they close another existing casino? After what happened in Tunica, I think we know the answer.
What a mess in MASS!
On Revel:
The FFE alone is worth more than $200 at Revel. It is worth more closed and scrapped (unfortunately) than open. But I do not believe one of his other quotes that assert that almost every operator in the business is interested in it. That has to be a very long stretch.