{"id":10332,"date":"2013-01-16T12:05:21","date_gmt":"2013-01-16T20:05:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/?p=10332"},"modified":"2019-07-19T10:32:00","modified_gmt":"2019-07-19T18:32:00","slug":"massachusetts-and-then-there-were-11-end-of-the-colony-capital-era","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/massachusetts-and-then-there-were-11-end-of-the-colony-capital-era\/","title":{"rendered":"Massachusetts … and then there were 11; End of the Colony Capital era?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"“[W]ell-connected developer” — but so not well financed — David Nunes<\/strong> (below<\/em>) just got his casino-application fee across the transom, meaning that there are 11 contestants vying for two casino licenses and a slot parlor<\/a> in Massachusetts<\/strong>. A \"\"couple of casino aspirants who couldn’t get their act together in time are pleading<\/a> for extensions That number could rise still further once the Massachusetts Gaming Commission<\/strong> has decided it’s waited long enough for the Mashpee Wampanoags<\/strong> to prove that they are eligible under the Carcieri v. Salazar<\/em> ruling, which foreshortens the number of federally recognized tribes that are qualified to offer gambling. If the Interior Department<\/strong>, soon to be minus one Ken Salazar<\/strong>, rules adversely, it’s a free-for-all in southeastern Mass. If the State of Massachusetts opens the region to private-sector casino developers and the Mashpee Wamps then<\/em> achieve recognition, Gov. Deval Patrick<\/strong> finds himself with four casinos on his hands, not the three upon which he insisted.<\/p>\n

Nunes, whose above-pictured Milford project has looked like smoke and mirrors so far<\/a> (and is fugly beyond description) is at best a distant third-place contender for the Boston<\/strong>-area license. Steve Wynn<\/strong> has to be regarded as the prohibitive frontrunner because … well, because he’s Steve Wynn, bitches! Caesars Entertainment<\/strong> and Suffolk Downs<\/strong>‘ second-place standing is shaky as long as \"\"Neil Bluhm<\/strong> (right<\/em>) is circling Beantown. He could go for the slot-parlor license (and its painfully high tax rate) but that’s pretty down-market for him. Two racinos are presently dueling for the slot-parlor gig and Cordish Gaming<\/strong> affiliate Power Plant Entertainment<\/strong> is also lurking about<\/a>. Since Cordish just delivered the Slot Parlor To Rule Them All in Maryland<\/strong>, I expect some knockout-punch offer to Massachusetts will soon be forthcoming. Of course, that leaves four heavyweights duking it out<\/a> for western Massachusetts … of which more shortly. However, one has to say to Patrick and his gaming czar, Stephen Crosby<\/strong>, “Job well done.” They’re drawn an excellent pool of applicants — much superior to what several other new jurisdictions have been able to lure. Then again, by capping the resort tax rate at 25% (unlike the greedheads down in Maryland, for instance), Massachusetts lawmakers set out some mighty tempting bait.<\/p>\n

Barring regulatory disapproval<\/strong> either from the New Jersey Casino Control Commission<\/strong> or the Department \"\"of Justice<\/strong>, it looks like Colony Capital<\/strong>‘s flagship casino property, the Atlantic Club<\/strong>, will soon have new ownership. That means that, unless or until Sam Nazarian<\/strong> actually builds his mooted SLS Las Vegas<\/strong>, Colony is out of the U.S. gaming industry. Hallelujah! CEO Tom Barrack<\/strong> is the worst, most catastrophic gaming investor in industry history and the doorknob cannot hit his butt one moment to soon. Overseas buyers Full Tilt Poker<\/strong> and Rational Group<\/strong> promise to subsidize the much-diminished casino, which continues to lose millions (on pace for an $18 million shortfall this year), even after a successful repositioning of the place as a grind joint. Rational Group’s Eric Hollreiser<\/strong> “declined to disclose terms of the deal, including the purchase price,” which almost certainly means Colony took a bath on the deal … as usual. Keep in mind that Rational subsidiary PokerStars<\/strong> ran afoul of the DoJ during Pokergeddon and had to pony up an eye-popping $547 million to placate Uncle Sam<\/strong>. So once the Division of Gaming Enforcement<\/strong> starts going through Rational and Full Tilt’s rap sheets, this whole deal could go sideways. But it’s the most interesting ownership bid in Atlantic City<\/strong> in quite a long time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“[W]ell-connected developer” — but so not well financed — David Nunes (below) just got his casino-application fee across the transom, meaning that there are 11 contestants vying for two casino licenses and a slot parlor in Massachusetts. A couple of … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[65,23,70,7,37,72,112,91,150,111,25,32,31,20],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10332"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10332"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10332\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24566,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10332\/revisions\/24566"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10332"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10332"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10332"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}