{"id":12874,"date":"2014-02-28T11:17:08","date_gmt":"2014-02-28T19:17:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/?p=12874"},"modified":"2014-02-28T12:19:44","modified_gmt":"2014-02-28T20:19:44","slug":"massachusetts-penn-wins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/massachusetts-penn-wins\/","title":{"rendered":"Massachusetts: Penn wins"},"content":{"rendered":"

Oh, cruel fate. It looked like that Massachusetts<\/strong> slot parlor was in the bag<\/a> for Cordish Gaming<\/strong> and the city of Leominster<\/strong>. After all, Massachusetts Gaming Commission<\/strong> Chairman Stephen Crosby<\/strong> had rated the project as “very good,”<\/a> adding, “Thus our analysis suggests that the strategic value of the Leominster location, filling a relatively unserved part of the state and creating a bulwark to a potential Southern New Hampshire<\/strong> facility, has the highest strategic competitive value<\/em>.”<\/p>\n

\"Plainridge<\/a>Penn National Gaming’s project in Plainville<\/strong>, meanwhile, was but “sufficient” with “few really distinctive features” other than the continuance of harness racing. Penn had gotten “very good” marks for mitigation efforts, including “integrated responsible gaming practices.” Greenwood Racing<\/strong>‘s proposal for Raynham Park<\/strong> was never seriously in contention<\/a>, getting merely “sufficient” marks in nearly every major category, and its presentation was faulty for a lack of transparency.<\/p>\n

Then the votes were counted and — whoa! — Penn emerged victorious. What did the trick? Was the promise of a temporary casino at to-be Plainridge Park Casino<\/strong> in six months? (Penn is now leaning away from that.)\u00a0The political influence of the horsey set?<\/a> The vote was narrow: 3-2. “I feel like were missing a big opportunity for an important part of the state<\/em>,” Crosby lamented, before flip-flopping to, “The Plainville option is a sure-fire bet, it\u2019s a proven operator<\/em>.” Penn stock leapt at the news<\/a>. For those voting “aye,” horse racing was an important criterion<\/a>. “[Crosby]\u00a0also argued that while he supported horse racing, the commission was under no obligation to try to save the industry<\/em>.”<\/p>\n

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

The vote was conditional but \u201cI don\u2019t anticipate there to be any show stoppers here<\/em>,” said Penn CEO Tim Wilmott<\/strong>. Sitting only 12 miles from Twin River Casino<\/strong>, the appeal of Plainridge Racecourse was, in part, as a blocking move against Rhode Island competitors. However, Twin River has tables and Plainridge Park won’t. Did the MGC make a bad call?<\/p>\n

(Update: Regulators made the award official<\/a> today.)<\/p>\n

Deutsche Bank<\/strong> analyst Carlo Santarelli<\/strong> doesn’t think so. He projects the racino as generating a 20%-26% return on investment, on annual grosses of $192 million to $244 million. J.P. Morgan<\/strong>‘s Joseph Greff<\/strong> was slightly more conservative, pegging ROI between 15% and 20%.<\/p>\n

\"Tick-Segerblom\"<\/a>Many a Nevada business<\/strong> wouldn’t be in business were it not for being part of a slot route. But such venues contribute a negligible amount of tax to the Nevada<\/strong> budget, so they are vulnerable to potential tax increases. There’s also some debate as to whether they’re casinos in drag<\/a>. “The regulations, as they stand right now, are fine and our members are meeting the requirement. But let\u2019s make sure our regulators have the ability to police those that are not in compliance<\/em>,” Golden Gaming<\/strong> lobbyist Sean Higgins<\/strong> in a not-so-veiled dig at competitor Dotty’s. Meanwhile, state Sen.\u00a0Tick Segerblom<\/strong> (D, right<\/em>) wants to look into taxing restricted license holders (i.e., routes) on the same rates as casinos, no doubt hoping that will unearth a few more nickels under the proverbial sofa cushion.<\/p>\n

Internet gambling<\/strong> is on the wish list<\/a> of Illinois<\/strong> state Senate President John Cullerton <\/strong>(D).\u00a0His call for legalization quickly garnered the support of the Poker Players Alliance<\/strong>, whose John Pappas sagely observed that “Regulation simply would mean corralling the current unregulated marketplace.” However, in Washington, it appears that Sheldon Adelson<\/strong> has found another legislator to do his bidding. Sen. Lindsey Graham<\/strong> (R-S.C.) is readying a bill that would ban<\/a> all forms of Internet gambling, including poker. Since opposition to gambling crosses party lines, this could be a serious threat to legalized ‘Net betting in the U.S. — and a boon for renegade sites offshore. If it passes, here’s hoping states can tie it up in court.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Oh, cruel fate. It looked like that Massachusetts slot parlor was in the bag for Cordish Gaming and the city of Leominster. After all, Massachusetts Gaming Commission Chairman Stephen Crosby had rated the project as “very good,” adding, “Thus our … 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":[70,172,67,58,112,69,33,111,25,141,92,38],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12874"}],"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=12874"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12874\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12888,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12874\/revisions\/12888"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12874"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12874"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12874"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}