Massachusetts Swings Both real Ways with Casino Vote

Massachusetts Swings Both real Ways with Casino Vote

The MGM Springfield is one possible casino coming to Massachusetts in the near future; it got a thumbs up from local voters this week

This past week saw an abundance of voting occurring across Massachusetts, including two key votes on proposed casino projects within the state. The results were split, giving both casino proponents and their opponents something to crow about.

Hard Rock Hits the Skids

The larger vote arrived in the city of West Springfield, where there was a proposition to create an $800 million tricky Rock casino. The casino had been expected to be one of the key rivals for the Western Massachusetts casino license.

But that project had been dealt what might be a deadly blow on Tuesday, after the voters of West Springfield decided to reject the plan in a general public referendum. About 55% of voters here voted against the casino, with 4,165 coming down up against the project versus just 3,413 because of it. The loss came as a surprise to many, once the campaign saw supporters of the casino drastically outspend opponents.

That rejection narrows the competition for the sole casino license in Western Massachusetts. At the brief moment, it seems that only two candidates have a chance at that permit: an MGM project in Springfield, and a Mohegan Sun proposal that could be located in Palmer. The Palmer proposal still needs to be voted on by residents, while the MGM plan was approved by Springfield voters.

Heavy Investing No Assistance

The West Springfield casino would have been built on the web site associated with Eastern States Exposition, house to the Big E the largest agricultural fair in New England. In the beginning, it appeared as if Hard Rock had chance that is little overcome initial opposition to the task. That changed a bit as the casino chain invested nearly $1 million campaigning for the task and made promises about the quantity of revenue they would bring in for West Springfield yearly.

Ultimately, though, opposition teams were able to make their case better, therefore the task was soundly defeated. The victory ended up being viewed as a big win for anti-casino groups across the state, all of which are defectively financed when compared to their pro-casino opponents.

The other vote into the state could have had a far more surprising result. Into the town of Plainville, an idea to develop a slot parlor at Plainridge Racecourse was overwhelming approved with 76% of the vote. A total of 1,582 voters came out in support of the master plan versus just 502 against.

The win capped a remarkable turnaround for Plainridge. Simply month that is last state regulators determined that the track’s ownership group was unfit to compete for the single slots parlor permit which was available. But Penn National produced last-minute go on to purchase the track, overtaking the slots parlor proposal as well. That was enough to satisfy the Gaming Commission, which provided their approval for the project.

Needless to say, not everyone was happy with the racino’s approval.

‘ The procedure isn’t working,’ said Mary-Ann Greanier, a user of No Plainville Racino. ‘The safeguards we were told to anticipate aren’t taking place.’

The Plainville task will compete against racino proposals in Raynham and Leominster, though the Leominster project must be approved by still voters.

A Wynn Resorts casino project in Everett, and a Suffolk Downs project in East Boston along with these projects, there are also three applicants for a license in the Greater Boston area: a Foxwoods proposal in Milford. There’s also a solitary license available in Southeastern Massachusetts, but as of yet, no developers have applied for a license in that area.

Gambling Industry Criticizes First Draft of Florida Pari-Mutuel Rules

Parimutuel wagering and jai-alai are getting the focus as Florida reviews its racetrack and rules that are betting.

In an attempt to reform their state’s gambling industry, Florida is working on several fronts towards clarifying and changing lots of the rules that govern betting in the Sunshine State. One section of attention is on pari-mutuel wagering: the betting that goes on at the state’s race tracks and frontons that are jai-alai the state. But industry insiders say that the first draft of rules that have been proposed by state regulators merely won’t work.

Workshop to Hammer Out Wagering Rules

Those rules will ultimately casino lucky nugget be discussed at a workshop with the Division of Pari-Mutuel Wagering on October 16, but were first released in a draft kind week that is last. The guidelines were created to eliminate a growing number of questionable practices that are demonstrably outside of what the state intends to enable at such venues. And even though a few of these new rules work, those within the industry say that many merely reveal that regulators aren’t familiar sufficient with Florida’s gambling industry to create such changes that are sweeping.

‘Some of them seem sensible,’ said Ken Stirling, executive director of the Florida Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association. ‘ a number of them haven’t been thought out really well. One or two are pretty silly.’

Among the big areas covered in the draft guidelines is horse racing regulations designed to eliminate racing that is non-standard. Many in the industry agree that this is a good notion, as ‘barrel racing’ and ‘flag-drop’ race are seen by some operators as a way to cheaply make payments that will even allow them to supply card spaces or slots alongside those events.

This new rules would help put a conclusion to such practices. They’d bar ‘the rushing animal to improve program in response to virtually any hurdles on the surface that is racing and make sure that jockeys conform to uniform and weight requirements that wouldn’t be a problem for legitimate racing operations.

Disagreement Over Acceptable Race Lengths

But the regulations don’t stop there, and that’s where some feel that the rules go incorrect. According to Stirling, some of these rules could devastate the racing industry if they aren’t changed.

For instance, the regulations that are new need that all races have reached least six furlongs in length a thing that might make sense in the event that you’ve only seen the Triple Crown races or the Breeder’s Cup, but making no sense for the industry in general.

‘[The guideline that] no race must be faster than…six furlongs…is a killer,’ Stirling said, noting that such races would be too long for two-year-old horses rushing in the summer. ‘That’s silly. We run child races at 4.5 furlongs and we’ve been doing it for a century. I know they truly are in Tallahassee, but we have these things called phones.’

He also objected to a rule that states that each and every battle must have at the least six horses a guideline which could cause races become canceled as a result of minute that is last.

Jai-Alai would additionally be affected by the regulations that are new. For instance, each location would be needed to possess eight players that are certified rotation. This rule comes in response to a debate at Ocala Poker and Jai-Alai, which started the 2012 period with only two players.

While there might be problems with the rules, unit director Leon Biegalski says there shouldn’t be considered a problem, and that the workshops were created to help iron out these problems aided by the industry’s assistance.

‘They’re draft rules. They’re a point that is starting. You want to make sure that most of the permit holders and all sorts of the stake holders are on the page that is same terms of what the regulation is that’s around and what must certanly be out there,’ Biegalski said.

2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics Could Mean Gaming Industry Silver

Casino industry leaders were most likely just as excited as these citizens that are japanese news regarding the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympic Games.

It’s difficult to believe that 2020 is only seven years away, but that’s the length of time we’ve before the newly-granted Tokyo Summer Olympics will be upon us. But athletes-in-training won’t function as the only ones reaching for silver, since the worldwide casino industry will also be attempting to accomplish what until recently has seemed very nearly insurmountable: getting legal casinos sanctioned, developed, built, and up and operating in time for you to ride the tourism revolution that people Tokyo games are bound to bring in. With Japan the last great untapped Asian gaming market, it’s a prize that lots of into the video gaming industry are motivated to achieve.

Could the Games be the Needed drive?

Japan infamous for decades of foot dragging regarding the legal casino issue now has extra motivation to produce it all happen too; the island nation must find a way to foot the expected $1.53 billion bill they’ll be underwriting to generate the venues and infrastructure necessary to host A olympic season. To that end, two casinos that are possible the drawing boards, one in Tokyo and the other in Osaka, could generate $10 billion in annual gambling revenues, making them exactly the money cows that the city has to pay its way. Japan industry that is gambling Grant Govertsen principal of Las Vegas-based Union Gaming Group claims that amount would become more compared to the $6.2 billion that the whole nevada Strip took set for 2012; so it ain’t chump change.

Those profits would produce an estimated 10 percent per casino for Tokyo, to not mention licensing that is additional and local municipal fees. Govertsen told investors he’s bullish about the whole thing.

‘ We think the national federal government should give consideration to incorporated resort development, at the very least in Tokyo, being a way to help the associated Olympics infrastructure arrived at fruition,’ he told investors after the Tokyo games announcement. And Govertsen isn’t the only person who smells profit the Asian metropolis; lots of the video gaming industry’s biggest players made tracks to Tokyo as soon as they heard the statement to see if they are able to scout out land for prospective casino developments.

Industry Leaders sites that are scouting

Word is out that Sheldon Adelson’s Las Vegas Sands Corp. has its attention on a Tokyo Bay web site, on a piece of reclaimed land, and he’s not the only one riding their covered wagon across the prairie to stake out some land. American behemoths MGM Resorts International and Caesars Entertainment Corp. (the latter of whom’s death is apparently grossly exaggerated for a day-to-day basis) have been spotted in Japan, as has overseas industry giants SJM and Melco Crown Entertainment. Everyone appears to want in regarding the potential Gold Rush of 2020.

‘Japan represents an opportunity that is historic tourism expansion in a nation with an incredibly rich cultural heritage,’ said MGM Resorts Executive Vice President Alan Feldman. ‘Tokyo is in an extraordinary position to re-energize the entire country’s tourism and entertainment industry.’ Feldman says MGM has been monitoring happenings in Japan for nearly 2 yrs, and both discussing feasible business alliances also testing the temperature for legislative passage.

And while Japan hasn’t been noted for moving quickly in this arena, the 2020 Tokyo Olympics could be just the fire they need to bring the gambling cooking pot up to a boil at last.

‘In the case of Tokyo, we think there would be government that is significant to accomplish a built-in resort over time for the opening of 2020 Olympics,’ Govertsen stated.


Feb 24, 2020 | Category: Lucky Nugget Casino | Comments: none