The MGM Fiasco

MGM (up to their Slot Machines in debt) settled on a poorly considered site in Brimfield without conducting their due diligence of infrastructure costs, time delays and local opposition. Too much time was spent on public relations propaganda and fairy tales and not enough on facts and reality.

This publicly defines poor management and invites scrutiny of the next targeted community.


MGM Resorts Drops Massachusetts Casino Plan for New Site
By Christopher Palmeri
Mar 28, 2012

MGM Resorts International (MGM) dropped out of a casino project in Brimfield, Massachusetts, and will seek an alternative site in the western part of the state.

“The unique nature of MGM’s plans for an all-inclusive world-class resort on the Brimfield site, and our growing understanding of the needed scope for its infrastructure, simply do not allow us to pursue the comprehensive MGM resort originally envisioned here,” Bill Hornbuckle, MGM’s Chief Marketing Officer, said yesterday in a statement.

Massachusetts has drawn interest from some the nation’s largest gambling companies since Governor Deval Patrick signed legislation in November allowing for three destination resorts, one each in separate regions of the state. An additional license for a slot-machine facility is also planned.

Wynn Resorts Ltd (WYNN) has proposed a casino in Foxborough, 30 miles (48 kilometers) south of Boston, while Caesars Entertainment Corp. hopes to develop at the Suffolk Downs horse track north of the state’s largest city. Connecticut tribal casino operator Mohegan Sun is pursuing a resort in Palmer, in the western part of the state, as is Las Vegas-based Ameristar Casinos Inc. (ASCA), which in January paid $16 million for a 41-acre site in Springfield.

A five-member gaming commission will oversee the licensing process, which involves initial fees of at least $85 million and a 25 percent share of casino revenue for the state. The licensing fee for the slot facility would be at least $25 million, with the state taking 40 percent of revenue and horse tracks receiving an additional 9 percent.

MGM’s withdrawal, reported earlier by the Boston Globe, doesn’t mean an end to the proposed casino in Brimfield. The company’s former partner, Rolling Hills Realty Trust, will continue to develop that site, David Callahan, a principal in the trust, said in a separate statement.

MGM fell 0.3 percent to $14.50 yesterday in New York. The shares have gained 17 percent this year.



MGM pulls out of Brimfield as Western Mass. casino spot
By Bob Salsberg
The Associated Press

The site that had been chosen in the town was adjacent to the Massachusetts Turnpike but had no direct access from the highway, a fact that posed a potentially major obstacle to development of the casino.

Without direct access from the turnpike, traffic leading to the site would have to travel several miles along Route 20, the main thoroughfare through the town which at times narrows down to just one lane in each direction.

MGM had proposed funding construction of a new turnpike interchange and access road in the neighboring town of Warren, between existing Exits 8 and 9 on the highway, and officials had said the project could not proceed without that new road. The new exit, however, could have taken a number of years to be approved and built.

Read more: http://www.tauntongazette.com/news/x1440913608/MGM-pulls-out-of-Brimfield-as-Western-Mass-casino-spot#ixzz1qVRcwcAE

Mixed feelings in Brimfield on MGM's decision not to build casino in town
Company won't build casino on land in town
Wednesday, 28 Mar 2012
Sy Becker
BRIMFIELD, Mass. (WWLP) - Casino company MGM announced Tuesday that they have decided not to build a resort casino in Brimfield


MGM Resorts drops Brimfield proposal for western Massachusetts
By Brian Hallenbeck
Publication: The Day
Says it will seek alternate site

Perennial Slot Barn Cheerleader Paul Burns ignores the Palmer Study Committee Report indicating the annual cost to host this monster would be $18 MILLION to $39 MILLION. Curious indeed!

Paul Burns, president of the Palmer Town Council, said it "serves to reinforce the strength of a Palmer site for a western Mass resort casino. As the sole remaining truly rural casino proposal in the state, Palmer continues to stand head and shoulders above other locations in terms of access, infrastructure, community support and location."

MGM announced its Brimfield project in January in the wake of Massachusetts' authorization of three casinos and one slots parlor. Other big-name operators, including Ameristar Casinos of Las Vegas, Hard Rock International of Orlando, Fla., and Penn National Gaming of Wyomissing, Pa., have also floated proposals for western Massachusetts.

In 2006, MGM entered into a "strategic alliance" with the Mashantucket Pequot Tribe under which the tribe branded its second casino as MGM Grand at Foxwoods.