{"id":13917,"date":"2014-06-25T13:26:17","date_gmt":"2014-06-25T21:26:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/?p=13917"},"modified":"2020-12-18T08:04:05","modified_gmt":"2020-12-18T16:04:05","slug":"massachusetts-the-morning-after","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/massachusetts-the-morning-after\/","title":{"rendered":"Massachusetts: The morning after"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Although <strong>Wynn Resorts<\/strong> is keeping mum on this week&#8217;s <strong>Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court<\/strong> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.scribd.com\/doc\/231133526\/Massachusetts-Supreme-Court-decision-on-casino-ballot-question\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">ruling<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.reviewjournal.com\/business\/casinos-gaming\/massachusetts-voters-can-decide-casino-issue-court-rules\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">others are not taking it lying down<\/a>. Faced with a do-or-die referendum on casino gambling in the Bay State, <strong><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/MGM-Springfield.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-10716\" src=\"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/MGM-Springfield-300x224.jpg\" alt=\"MGM Springfield\" width=\"300\" height=\"224\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/MGM-Springfield-300x224.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/MGM-Springfield-150x112.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/MGM-Springfield.jpg 665w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a>MGM Resorts International<\/strong> <a href=\"http:\/\/cdcgamingreports.com\/casino-backers-foes-react-to-courts-ruling\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" class=\"broken_link\">promised<\/a> it was &#8220;fully prepared to extend this message to a larger audience through a statewide campaign to educate the voters on the enormous economic benefits that would be lost to the taxpayers.&#8221;\u00a0<span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u201cWe\u2019re in this for the long haul,&#8221; added <strong>Mohegan Sun<\/strong> CEO <strong>Mitchell Etess<\/strong>. &#8220;We\u2019re a part of a campaign that will be fighting to vote down that referendum to make sure that gaming in Massachusetts and all of the jobs and development that are associated with it take place.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p>The <strong>American Gaming Association<\/strong> will be weighing in, too, promising to campaign alongside the affected casino companies. <strong>Penn National Gaming<\/strong> decided to take a gamble on <!--more-->the outcome of the November, vowing to proceed &#8220;full steam ahead&#8221; with its <strong>Plainridge Racecourse<\/strong>\u00a0racino. (That takes brass balls.)<\/p>\n<p>On the other side, <strong>Repeal the Casino Deal<\/strong> Chairman <strong>John Ribeiro<\/strong> was his usual pompous self. He airily proclaimed,\u00a0\u201cWe know <strong>Massachusetts<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/massachusetts-quarter.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignleft size-thumbnail wp-image-7706\" src=\"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/massachusetts-quarter-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"massachusetts-quarter\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/massachusetts-quarter-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/massachusetts-quarter-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/massachusetts-quarter.jpg 320w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/><\/a>can do better than this casino mess.\u201d With <a href=\"http:\/\/www.boston.com\/news\/local\/massachusetts\/2014\/06\/24\/boston-globe-sjc-rules-repeal-mass-casino-law-can-ballot\/tRLAqVYBMVUgHYQHCYP5rI\/story.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" class=\"broken_link\">national anti-gambling groups piling<\/a> on, too, this looks to be a very expensive campaign. Make no mistake, the defeat of casino proposals in numerous Massachusetts towns means <a href=\"http:\/\/www.telegram.com\/article\/20140625\/NEWS\/306259855\/1116\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" class=\"broken_link\">there is a formidable body of activists ready to hit the streets<\/a> in support of a repeal. Attorney General <strong>Martha Coakley<\/strong> sided with the casinos and her opponents for governor are already using the Supreme Court&#8217;s ruling as a stick with which to beat her. Legislators also have to be a bit nervous, having baked $73 million in casino bucks into the 2015 budget.<\/p>\n<p>Acknowledging &#8220;an atmosphere of uncertainty,&#8221; <strong>Massachusetts Gaming Commission<\/strong> Chairman <strong>Stephen Crosby<\/strong> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bostonglobe.com\/metro\/2014\/06\/24\/gaming-commission-says-will-continue-its-work-despite-possibility-casino-law-repeal\/LYu9AsblBoHVfXES9aha3N\/story.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">promised business as usual<\/a>\u00a0(despite <a href=\"http:\/\/www.masslive.com\/politics\/index.ssf\/2014\/06\/court_decision_on_casino_ballo.html#incart_river\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" class=\"broken_link\">calls to go slow<\/a>) &#8230; if anything the MGC does could be called &#8220;usual.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><strong>* Amaya Gaming Group<\/strong> hasn&#8217;t bought <strong>PokerStars<\/strong> yet but <strong>New Jersey<\/strong> <a href=\"http:\/\/cdcgamingreports.com\/nj-starts-review-of-pokerstars-buyer\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" class=\"broken_link\">regulators have begun vetting the company<\/a>, with a view toward autumn licensure. <strong>Resorts Atlantic City<\/strong> hopes to platform both <strong>PokerStars<\/strong> and <strong>FullTilt Poker<\/strong>, plus two European companies, if everything goes off on schedule.<\/p>\n<p><strong>* Harrah&#8217;s Atlantic City<\/strong> <a href=\"http:\/\/cdcgamingreports.com\/harrahs-golden-nugget-fined-total-of-66000\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" class=\"broken_link\">has been a little careless<\/a> about checking on underage players. In one case, a too-young patron was released back onto the casino floor even though security knew he was of invalid age. In another, a juvenile player&#8217;s identity wasn&#8217;t checked until he&#8217;d drunk himself unconscious. The violations earned Harrah&#8217;s a total of $60,000 in fines.<\/p>\n<div><strong>*<\/strong> If you think they bet large in <strong>Macao<\/strong>, you don&#8217;t know the half of it. Police have busted betting syndicates that racked up at least $645 million in <strong>World Cup<\/strong>-related action. That&#8217;s just the tip of the iceberg. Illicit sports betting in <strong>Hong Kong<\/strong> is a $64.5 billion a year business.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Although Wynn Resorts is keeping mum on this week&#8217;s Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruling, others are not taking it lying down. Faced with a do-or-die referendum on casino gambling in the Bay State, MGM Resorts International promised it was &#8220;fully &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/massachusetts-the-morning-after\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[23,26,174,7,37,62,112,11,167,69,178,33,25,74,32],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13917"}],"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=13917"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13917\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28943,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13917\/revisions\/28943"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13917"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13917"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13917"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}