{"id":13739,"date":"2014-06-09T11:00:18","date_gmt":"2014-06-09T19:00:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/?p=13739"},"modified":"2024-01-05T06:51:21","modified_gmt":"2024-01-05T14:51:21","slug":"massachusetts-casinos-in-peril","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/massachusetts-casinos-in-peril\/","title":{"rendered":"Massachusetts casinos in peril"},"content":{"rendered":"

That’s the conclusion of a Suffolk University<\/strong>\/Boston Herald<\/em> poll. It shows support for casinos having fallen to 37%<\/a>, while opposition has risen to 47% of those surveyed. That’s a dramatic reversal from a February poll by the Herald<\/em> \"Wynn<\/a>which showed casinos enjoying 51% support against 37% opposition. Asked “whether it makes sense” to open a casino in Everett<\/strong> or Revere<\/strong>, 55% answered “neither.” Polls should not influence the Supreme Judicial Court<\/strong> in its deliberations about whether a repeal question goes upon the November ballot or not. But they should give casino developers a scare. To the extent that casinos have been making the news lately, it has usually been in a negative context. Whether it’s Wynn Resorts<\/strong> or Mohegan Sun<\/strong> or even Penn National Gaming<\/strong> or MGM Resorts International<\/strong>, they need to start campaigning like their lives depended on it.<\/p>\n

* For years, casino expansion in New York State<\/strong> has been sold on the basis of what it would do for the Catskills<\/strong> region. However, the enabling \"Seal_of_New_York.svg\"<\/a>legislation rather carelessly included Orange County<\/strong>, a “choke point” that could interdict gambling revenue otherwise destined for places like\u00a0Grossinger’s Catskill Resort Hotel<\/strong>, destined for redevelopment by Foxwoods Resort Casino<\/strong> … or is it? Foxwoods is said to be rethinking its plans. Ominously, that means it could be the second defector from the Catskills market, after Len Wolman<\/strong>‘s Trading Cove Associates<\/strong> threw in the towel. Predictably, all the big dogs — Caesars Entertainment<\/strong>, Genting Group<\/strong>, Cordish Gaming<\/strong>, Penn National Gaming<\/strong> and Saratoga Casino & Raceway<\/strong> have piled into Orange County. Can you blame would-be Catskills casino owners for thinking, “Why bother?”<\/span><\/p>\n

* Detroit<\/strong> is making a high-risk bet that casino wagering will stabilize and remain steady for the next nine years. Since the city’s bankruptcy plan leans heavily on casino taxes, this really is a sizable wager, one that is bringing doom-and-gloom prognostications from detractors. True, casino revenue fell 5% last year and is down 6% so far in 2014<\/a>. But that’s nothing compared to some of the swoons we’re seeing in Illinois<\/strong> and Indiana<\/strong>. What’s more concerning is that Detroiters who will be seeing smaller, post-bankruptcy paychecks will play less, exacerbating the problem.<\/p>\n

\"mgm-grand-detroit-promotions\"<\/a>The City of Detroit, which relies upon casino taxes for 17% of general-fund revenues has to watching all of this with apprehension. Says one pundit,\u00a0“Casino revenue is not a traditional, long-term revenue source.” Adds another,\u00a0\u00a0“What if Detroit has another 5 percent decline next year? Then their budget is already way off track.” Adding to this concern is a lack of younger players stepping up to replace those who are — pardon my indelicacy — dying off or drifting away. Greektown<\/strong> (“a casino that’s basically just changing the carpet”) is a worry, down 7%, but MGM Grand Detroit<\/strong> — despite being the city’s flagship property — slipped 6% last year. Trying to peg Detroit’s future fiscal health to trends in casino revenue must be as easy as nailing Jell-O to a wall.<\/span><\/p>\n

* The horseracing industry must be so<\/em> proud of California Chrome<\/strong> owner Steve Coburn<\/strong> and his trigger-happy comments<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

That’s the conclusion of a Suffolk University\/Boston Herald poll. It shows support for casinos having fallen to 37%, while opposition has risen to 47% of those surveyed. That’s a dramatic reversal from a February poll by the Herald which showed … 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":[44,26,67,58,68,112,11,167,69,32],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13739"}],"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=13739"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13739\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32986,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13739\/revisions\/32986"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13739"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13739"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13739"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}