{"id":13342,"date":"2014-04-18T11:59:24","date_gmt":"2014-04-18T19:59:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/?p=13342"},"modified":"2014-04-18T12:48:57","modified_gmt":"2014-04-18T20:48:57","slug":"much-ado-about-massachusetts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/much-ado-about-massachusetts\/","title":{"rendered":"Much ado about Massachusetts"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Crosby\"<\/a>Stephen Crosby<\/strong>, phlegmatic chairman of the Massachusetts Gaming Commission<\/strong>, makes a very unlikely looking lightning rod. But such he has become. He’s already drawn the wrath of Gary Loveman<\/strong> and now Boston<\/strong> Mayor Martin J. Walsh<\/strong> wants Crosby to recuse himself<\/a> from all Beantown-related matters. According to Walsh, Crosby isn’t just prejudiced, he’s anti-Boston. \u201cTaken together, the pending federal lawsuit [by Loveman], recent commission statements, current press articles, and the commissions\u2019 own actions, create a cloud over the proceedings when Chairman Crosby participates<\/em>,\u201d wrote Elizabeth Dello Russo<\/strong>, Walsh’s lawyer.<\/p>\n

\"martinjwalsh-headshot\"<\/a>Dello Russo also launched a preemptive strike at the commission’s forthcoming hearing on Boston’s eligibility to be a “host community.” \u201cThe Commission proposes no process for the City to obtain discovery from the applicants. It eliminates the City\u2019s opportunity to call witnesses, to cross-examine witnesses and to create an appropriate evidentiary record that is subject to legal review<\/em>,” Dello Russo vituperated<\/a>. “It also fails to address the burden of proof and a mechanism to resolve factual disputes based on documentary submissions with no live testimony. In sum, the proposed procedure represents a thinly veiled attempt to \u2018stack the deck\u2019 against the City on the ‘host community’ issue …<\/em>”<\/p>\n

Walsh is himself playing a dangerous game. He’s got a bird in the hand (surrounding-community status) but wants the two in the bush. Walsh can’t be so clueless as to know that putting the Wynn Resorts<\/strong> and Mohegan Sun<\/strong> proposals up to votes in Charlestown<\/strong> and East Boston<\/strong>, respectively, will surely doom them. He seems to be seeking host-community status for Boston so that he can blow the whole thing up. A strange cat, this Walsh.<\/p>\n

Already, Walsh is threatening to pull a sulk, sit out the MGC’s hearing and take his case to court. (Steve Wynn<\/strong> and Mohegan Sun’s Mitchell Etess<\/strong> must think they’ve wandered into a madhouse.) He’s also provided the unsolicited advice that the commission look into convicted felon Charles Lightbody<\/strong> and the possibility he has hidden ownership in the land Wynn intends to buy. We’re sure the MGC is well aware of that problem.<\/p>\n

\"neil-bluhm\"<\/a>In other MGC business, Neil Bluhm<\/strong> scored a victory, with the commission agreeing to change the prerequisites for the southeast region<\/a>. Now developers can spend only (!) $500 million on the casino itself and the other, required $250 million can go toward infrastructural improvements. However, to the dismay of Fall River<\/strong> and Foxwoods Massachusetts<\/strong>, the MGC clung to its delayed, September deadline for applications. It would seem a miracle if the Interior Department<\/strong> could make a land-in-trust for the Mashpee Wampanoags<\/strong> in that time frame. However, it gives New Bedford<\/strong> Mayor Jon Mitchell<\/strong> and KG Urban Enterprises<\/strong> the extra time Mitchell sought to come to terms.\u00a0\u201cTime is not the problem. The marketplace is the problem,\u201d Crosby opined, describing the struggle in Region C as\u00a0\u201cIt\u2019s more like a baseball bat fight in a dark room.\u201d<\/p>\n

Crosby was clearly unimpressed with what he’s heard — or failed to hear — from Foxwoods, expressing doubt over its ability to meet the $500 million threshold: “Their silence has spoken really clearly to me on this one.\u201d He noted that a host-community agreement, promised by April 3, still has yet to be delivered, leading Foxwoods spokesman David Nunes<\/strong> to say the agreement would be vouchsafed in September (quite a ways from April 3).<\/p>\n

\"MGM<\/a>Out west, MGM Resorts International<\/strong> has agreed to put $6.75 million toward revival<\/a> of Union Station<\/strong> in downtown Springfield<\/strong>. MGM would use its 44,000 square feet for office space. If the station isn’t ready in time for the casino opening, MGM will pay a half million dollars a year to\u00a0to the Springfield Redevelopment Authority<\/strong>. MGM hopes that habitual train travelers from, say, New York City<\/strong>, will bypass gambling options closer to home to check out MGM Springfield<\/strong>. Considering that the latter has the look of a first-class facility, MGM’s hope isn’t as crazy as it might sound at first blush.<\/p>\n

For the first time<\/strong>, multi-state, progressive slot play is in action, networked with Caesars Entertainment<\/strong> and Boyd Gaming<\/strong> properties in New Jersey<\/strong>. And it premiered in, of all places, Deadwood<\/strong>. I kid you not<\/a>.<\/p>\n

How confident is Tioga Downs?<\/strong> (Answer<\/em>: Very.)<\/p>\n