{"id":15665,"date":"2015-03-06T17:09:38","date_gmt":"2015-03-07T01:09:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/?p=15665"},"modified":"2015-03-06T17:09:38","modified_gmt":"2015-03-07T01:09:38","slug":"foxwoods-returns-to-massachusetts-maybe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/foxwoods-returns-to-massachusetts-maybe\/","title":{"rendered":"Foxwoods returns to Massachusetts … maybe"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the slow-simmering competition for a southeastern Massachusetts<\/strong> casino license, Foxwoods Resort Casino<\/strong> has just turned up the heat. It will wed spinster KG Urban<\/strong>, \"foxwoods\"<\/a>which brings a waterfront New Bedford<\/strong> site to the nuptials, while Foxwoods will provide the operational expertise. \u201cWe couldn\u2019t have found a better choice for an operator \u2014 no one knows the Massachusetts and New England<\/strong> regional market better than the Mashantucket,\u201d effused a KG Urban statement. The seemingly good news comes as KG Urban is having a falling out<\/a> with Mayor Jon Mitchell<\/strong>, who wants the project — slated for an abandoned power plant<\/a> — redesigned.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are in discussions with the developer about whether a casino makes sense at the proposed site … We continue to have ongoing discussions with KG Urban and we have hired one of the top planning firms in America, Sasaki Associates Inc<\/strong>., to review the suitability of KG Urban\u2019s proposal. Sasaki\u2019s input will guide us in determining whether a casino makes sense on our waterfront,\u201d said Mitchell, leading KG Urban spokesman Andrew Paven<\/strong> to gloomily emit,\u00a0\u201cAt this point, we are not sure we can come to agreement with this mayor.\u201d However, KG Urban has former NBA<\/strong> Commissioner David Stern<\/strong> in there pitching its project<\/a>. (Stern fils<\/em>, Andrew, runs KG Urban.) Crossroads Massachusetts<\/strong>, which partnered with Foxwoods in its failed Milford<\/strong> push, is now an adversary<\/a>. It’s teaming up with a Somerset<\/strong> group in a rival project.<\/p>\n

Conspicuous by their absence are the Mashpee Wampanoags<\/strong>, who failed to achieve the federal standing necessary to own a casino. However, Neil Bluhm<\/strong> is back in the contest, his \"Neil<\/a>Rush Street Gaming<\/strong> partnering with George Carney<\/strong> (another also-ran in the slot-parlor derby). Their\u00a0Mass Gaming & Entertainment<\/strong> has its eye on a horse track that has lain fallow for 15 years, Brockton Fairgrounds<\/strong>. Carney has also mooted bringing horseracing back to the site.\u00a0Brockton City Council<\/strong> President Dennis Eaniri<\/strong> lavished praise on the proposal, projecting that it would bring 1,400 construction jobs and 1,500 casino ones to the area.<\/p>\n

Only Mass Gaming got its application in on time, so its lawyer tried to have the other two supplicants bounced for tardiness. Nice try, but the Massachusetts Gaming Commission<\/strong> decided to be clement and push the application deadline to March 16. Seafan Trust<\/strong> never paid its $400,000 application fee and got sent packing, proving truly that money talks and bullshit walks. As for the remaining applicant, it’s a last-minute conflation of Crossroads Massachusetts and Somerset on the Move<\/strong>, and relatively little seems to be known about it.<\/p>\n

While Foxwoods might seem the early favorite, its finances are in ropey condition and this is something the MGC takes seriously. Given his success in Philadelphia<\/strong> and Des Plaines<\/strong> (which just posted another competition-crushing month), Bluhm is the man to watch as the competition unfolds.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the slow-simmering competition for a southeastern Massachusetts casino license, Foxwoods Resort Casino has just turned up the heat. It will wed spinster KG Urban, which brings a waterfront New Bedford site to the nuptials, while Foxwoods will provide 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":[65,166,67,58,112,91,95,25,20],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15665"}],"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=15665"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15665\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15666,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15665\/revisions\/15666"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15665"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15665"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15665"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}