{"id":12001,"date":"2013-11-06T11:08:15","date_gmt":"2013-11-06T19:08:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/?p=12001"},"modified":"2013-11-06T16:04:12","modified_gmt":"2013-11-07T00:04:12","slug":"election-special-no-surprise-in-new-york-big-surprise-in-massachusetts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/election-special-no-surprise-in-new-york-big-surprise-in-massachusetts\/","title":{"rendered":"Election Special: No surprise in New York, big surprise in Massachusetts"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/object><\/p>\n

Massachusetts<\/strong> may not be ready for casino gambling (unless Steve Wynn<\/strong> is building it). Voters said no and again no yesterday, in a series of referendums. Mohegan Sun<\/strong> is — quite understandably — asking for a recount<\/a>. Its casino proposal lost by 93 votes<\/a> out of roughly 5,200 cast. It’s citing problems with a voting machine in one precinct<\/a> and wants votes retabulated by hand. Said one supporter, “I wouldn’t put it past Palmer<\/strong> to screw up like that with faulty equipment.”<\/p>\n

Considering the generosity of Mohegan Sun’s deal with Palmer, this is a stunning setback. Now MGM Resorts International<\/strong> has the western region of Massachusetts all to itself<\/a>, depending on the clemency of the Massachusetts Gaming Commission<\/strong> and MGM’s ability to exorcise Pansy Ho<\/strong>‘s specter. Since the decision won’t come down until April, CEO James Murren<\/strong> can look forward to six months of nail-biting. MGM also now has to deal with the prospect of a casino near feeder market<\/a>\u00a0Albany<\/strong>, cutting into its prospective revenue base.<\/p>\n

\"Mohegan<\/a>Defeat in Palmer would be particularly bitter for Mohegan Sun, which has invested six years in trying to obtain a casino there — and which would have paid the city $35 million across its first two years of operation. If I were affiliated with Foxwoods Massachusetts<\/strong>, in Milford<\/strong>, my takeaway from yesterday would be to be afraid, be very afraid. FoxMass comes up for a vote on Nov. 19.<\/p>\n

As expected, voters in Revere<\/strong> gave their aye to Suffolk Downs<\/strong> but it was defeated in East Boston<\/strong>. In a somewhat surrealistic remark, COO Chip Tuttle<\/strong> said the track would “reassess” its casino ambitions<\/a>, although one of two host communities had voted it down, 56% to 44%.\u00a0Revere Mayor Dan Rizzo<\/strong> is recommending\u00a0\u00a0a Rube Goldberg scheme<\/a> whereby, although the track straddles two cities, all the casino product would be on the Revere side of the line, where Suffolk has 58 acres it can cannibalize<\/a>. Whether time — or Massachusetts regulations — are on Suffolk’s side remains to be seen. (The design would have to be cobbled together by New Year’s Eve.)<\/p>\n

\"Seal_of_New_York.svg\"<\/a>It was an altogether<\/strong> different story in New York State<\/strong>, where casino expansion won with 57% of the vote, a potent mandate, even if Gov. Andrew Cuomo<\/strong> (D) waited until Monday to campaign<\/a> on behalf of Proposal One<\/strong>. None of the big Vegas players has shown an interest in New York … yet, although Genting Group<\/strong> is expected to make a play for one of the two Castkills<\/strong> casinos. However, both Tioga Downs<\/strong> and Saratoga Raceway<\/strong> hope to upgrade from VLT-parlor to casino status<\/a>, so the net increase in gaming capacity may be less than anticipated. Slot suppliers like International Game Technology and Bally Technology will be eventual winners, but not for a couple of years<\/a> at the soonest.\u00a0American Gaming Association<\/strong> President Geoff Freeman<\/strong> chose to overlook the debacle in Massachusetts and issued a congratulatory message for the Empire State<\/a>. Freeman’s predecessor, Frank Fahrenkopf<\/strong>, almost always steered clear of intrastate issues but the new AGA prexy clearly is very much his own man.<\/p>\n

In one other race of note, New Jersey<\/strong> Gov. Chris Christie<\/strong> (R) obliterated state Sen. Barbara Buono<\/strong> (D), capturing 60.5% of the vote<\/a>. This means Christie’s five-year rescue plan for Atlantic City<\/strong> will be allowed to run its course.<\/p>\n

Oh, yeah<\/strong>. Some kid from Vegas<\/a> won the World Series of Poker<\/strong> last night.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Massachusetts may not be ready for casino gambling (unless Steve Wynn is building it). Voters said no and again no yesterday, in a series of referendums. Mohegan Sun is — quite understandably — asking for a recount. Its casino proposal … 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":[23,28,26,166,112,11,167,101,33,25,32,132],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12001"}],"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=12001"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12001\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12008,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12001\/revisions\/12008"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12001"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12001"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12001"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}