Follow the MONEY #3

With the vultures circling ever closer .....
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Mohegan Sun said today --

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The state should charge casino licensing fees between $25 million and $50 million and level tax rates in the low 20-percent range on gambling revenues, according to a top executive at the Mohegan Sun casino firm, one of several business interests circling as the Legislature considers gambling legislation.

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Who's driving this bus? What happened to those wildly optimistic figures that have been presented? The ones that opponents have long argued were grossly overstated?

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Like these revenue projections --

Slot machines could be installed at the tracks and start earning money for the state within 90 days, Pacheco said.
Testifying before lawmakers on Tuesday on the state’s budget crisis, Cahill estimated Massachusetts could generate $2 billion to $3 billion in up-front licensing fees from slot parlors, plus up to $250 million annually in tax revenues.
The revenue would offset sagging sales at the Massachusetts Lottery, which Cahill oversees, and tax collections that have left the state facing a $1.1 billion deficit this year and $3.5 billion in cuts for the budget being debated for next year.
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[Jeffrey Hartmann, Mohegan Sun’s chief operating officer] Hartmann said.. About 22 percent of the Connecticut casino’s business comes from Massachusetts with about 70 percent from New York and Connecticut.....

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22% coming from Massachusetts? Is that the figure perennial casino cheerleader Clyde Barrow uses? Check it out.

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Kudos to Statehouse News for FINALLY including this disclaimer:

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Editor's Note: O'Neill & Associates advertises in the News Service's Weekly Roundup.