{"id":12978,"date":"2014-03-12T10:56:25","date_gmt":"2014-03-12T18:56:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/?p=12978"},"modified":"2014-03-12T11:58:56","modified_gmt":"2014-03-12T19:58:56","slug":"itchy-trigger-fingers-in-massachusetts-boyd-besieged","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/itchy-trigger-fingers-in-massachusetts-boyd-besieged\/","title":{"rendered":"Itchy trigger fingers in Massachusetts; Boyd besieged"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Crosby\"<\/a>After moving with extreme deliberation on terrestrial casinos, the Massachusetts Gaming Commission<\/strong> suddenly has a fire under its butt to do something<\/a> about Internet<\/strong> gambling. “The time is now …\u00a0We can\u2019t wait any longer, even though we\u2019re still in the middle of [casino] licensing<\/em>,” said MGC Chairman Stephen Crosby<\/strong>. Somewhat nonsensically, Crosby coupled those remarks with the admonition<\/a> that “it\u2019s only appropriate that [casino operators] be at the table when we figure out what do with Internet gaming.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

At the pace with which the MGC is choosing resort-casino operators that could be a very long time.\u00a0\u2018\u2018We don\u2019t want to kill the goose that laid the golden egg on the state lottery and the new goose that is hopefully going to lay some golden eggs in the coming years, the slots parlor and casinos<\/em>,\u2019\u2019 responded\u00a0state Senate Majority Leader Stanley Rosenberg<\/strong> (D). But even he conceded, \u201cI personally don\u2019t see how you avoid it.\u00a0You can\u2019t control the Internet<\/em>.”<\/p>\n

International Game Technology<\/strong> and Bally Technology<\/strong> were on hand to lobby the MGC, as were representatives from all states where i-gaming is legal. Of course, the prudes got their panties in a wad over the proposal. “There\u2019s no shovel in the ground yet to build the casinos or slots parlors, but already we\u2019re talking about expansions of casino gambling<\/em>,” shrieked casino opponent John Ribeiro<\/strong>. “Instead of having honest debate about tax revenue and economic development, we\u2019re just going to allow these charlatans to open up casinos not just in our communities, but in every living room, every office, every door room in the state. We need to stop the bleeding<\/em>.”<\/p>\n

\"Plainridge\"<\/a>Elsewhere in the state, Penn National Gaming<\/strong> isn’t letting Ribeiro intimidate it. The company is proceeding apace with its Plainridge Park Casino<\/strong> project, although that consists mostly of paperwork<\/a> right now. Penn is even prepared to eat the cost of the land should anti-casino forces repeal Massachusetts<\/strong>‘ casino-enabled status in a November vote. Said Penn CFO Saul Reibstein<\/strong>,\u00a0\u201cWe made a commitment to the Gaming Commission that we were ready to go immediately upon awarding of the license, and we intend to fulfill that commitment<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

In emulation<\/strong> of Penn’s recent REIT conversion, Elliott Associates<\/strong> is expected to start applying similar pressure<\/a> to Boyd Gaming<\/strong>. However, doing so would require the Boyd family to dissipate its 30% stake in the company. If you enjoy the customer service at a Boyd Gaming facility, Elliott’s commitment to ‘boost shareholder value’ ought to sound an ominous note. The fund and its affiliates own 5% of Boyd directly and ‘have economic exposure’ to 2% more.<\/p>\n

Boyd doesn’t seem to be taking the Elliott threat too seriously, though. “We always appreciate new investments in the company<\/em>,” said Boyd spokesman David Strow<\/strong>, dryly.<\/p>\n

* Women in Hawaii<\/strong> are the biggest players of social-gaming poker<\/a> in the U.S.<\/strong> Their sisters in Utah<\/strong>, however, make the largest wagers.<\/div>\n
* Illegal gambling is so little of a problem in Pennsylvania<\/strong> that money to combat it is being refunded<\/a> to Harrisburg<\/strong>. However, $1.7 billion in casino-tax money has been sucked into the black hole that is horseracing.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
* Quote of the Day<\/strong>:\u00a0“I don\u2019t like eggs, but I\u2019m not going to ban farmers.”<\/em> —\u00a0Plainville<\/strong> Town Administrator Joseph Fernandes<\/strong>, on opposition to the forthcoming Penn National casino<\/a>.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After moving with extreme deliberation on terrestrial casinos, the Massachusetts Gaming Commission suddenly has a fire under its butt to do something about Internet gambling. “The time is now …\u00a0We can\u2019t wait any longer, even though we\u2019re still in the … 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":[77,60,144,67,29,37,112,69,95,111,25,38],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12978"}],"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=12978"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12978\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12985,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12978\/revisions\/12985"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12978"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12978"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12978"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}