{"id":12608,"date":"2014-01-31T12:51:30","date_gmt":"2014-01-31T20:51:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/?p=12608"},"modified":"2014-01-31T12:51:30","modified_gmt":"2014-01-31T20:51:30","slug":"double-whammy-in-beantown-feeding-frenzy-in-philly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/double-whammy-in-beantown-feeding-frenzy-in-philly\/","title":{"rendered":"Double whammy in Beantown, feeding frenzy in Philly"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Crosby\"<\/a>Should casino opponents succeed in getting a repeal of the state’s gambling law onto the November ballot — and win — Massachusetts<\/strong> will lose out on tax revenue it’s booked for the next fiscal year. It may also have to surrender the licensing fees paid by casino applicants. Massachusetts Gaming Commission<\/strong> Chairman Stephen Crosby<\/strong> says refunding those fees would only be the fair thing to do<\/a>. (Legislators may well disagree.) To do otherwise might be an unconstitutional taking of property.\u00a0As for any land that casinos have bought … well, they’re probably plain out of luck on that, although perhaps they could counter-sue\u00a0Repeal the Casino Deal<\/strong> for what they’re out of pocket. And that’s a real concern with casino opposition gaining ground in the polls<\/a>. Support has waned by eight points.<\/p>\n

(In an unrelated story, Crosby has asked for the dismissal<\/a> of a vindictive lawsuit filed by Caesars Entertainment<\/strong>.)<\/p>\n

\"Neil<\/a>All this week<\/strong>, casino applicants in Philadelphia<\/strong> have been blowing smoke up up the backside of the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board<\/strong>, advancing a variety of roseate revenue scenarios. That impelled SugarHouse<\/strong> owner Neil Bluhm<\/strong> to get on a plane and play Cassandra amidst the Trojans<\/a>. “I felt I had to come down and tell them that if these numbers are right, they’re going to have a mess on their hands<\/em>,” he told reporters. He warned PGCB members of “severe financial problems” at SugarHouse if cannibalization projections come true.\u00a0Bluhm found an unlikely ally in\u00a0Greenwood Gaming & Entertainment Inc<\/strong>. Chairman Bob Green<\/strong>. The latter, a downtown resident, forecast disastrous consequences for downtown casinos, were another to be built. To buttress his argument, he cited figures which showed his exurban OTB facility well outperforming his downtown one. Still, Green thinks he’ll siphon the better part of $114 million in cannibalized revenue off SugarHouse.<\/p>\n

\"sugarhouse-house-current-design1\"<\/a>Bluhm countered that SugarHouse would have to get by on 75% less profit. “Just because we knew that there was likely going to be a second casino when we bid for our license does not mean that you should automatically issue a new license here if it doesn’t make economic sense<\/em>,” he told commissioners.\u00a0In urging the PGCB to simply not award any license, period, SugarHouse General Manager Wendy Hamilton<\/strong> minced even fewer words<\/a>. “This is absolutely, downright offensive<\/em>,” she said, “anyone who tells you they can generate even $100 million in new revenue in Philadelphia is living in Crazytown<\/em>.” Given the amount of investment that has been trailed before the PGCB, I wouldn’t bet on an outbreak of sanity anytime soon.<\/p>\n

Casinos in Indiana<\/strong> could finally come ashore … if only the Lege would take action<\/a>. It’s punted on a bill that would do just that. If passed, SB 364 would give table games to racinos, along with unspecified tax incentives. In a stark measure of how hard Indiana’s casino industry has been hit, employment has fallen 25% since 2009. But legislators are in no hurry, willing to leave the matter unaddressed until this summer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Should casino opponents succeed in getting a repeal of the state’s gambling law onto the November ballot — and win — Massachusetts will lose out on tax revenue it’s booked for the next fiscal year. It may also have to … 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":[14,26,68,112,91,95,33,111,25,31],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12608"}],"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=12608"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12608\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12610,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12608\/revisions\/12610"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12608"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12608"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12608"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}