Gaming panel’s off to Las Vegas, Asia
By Dave WedgeThursday, September 27, 2012
Photo by Nancy Lane
‘A LEGITIMATE THING’: Mass. Gaming Commissioner Gayle Cameron is set for a Far East junket.
Three state gaming commissioners are off to Las Vegas on an estimated $10,000 junket where they’ll rub elbows with some of the top gambling industry titans now vying to build casinos in the Bay State — a trip to be followed by a trans-Pacific jaunt to Singapore and Macau.
Officials from MGM Casinos and Caesar’s Entertainment Inc. — both of which are planning Massachusetts gaming palaces — sit on the board of the Global Gaming Expo, a five-day extravaganza at the luxurious Sands Expo & Convention Center in Sin City. Massachusetts Gaming Commission Chairman Stephen Crosby and two other commissioners are headed to the conference Sunday and will be staying at the Sands.
The estimated $10,000 cost of the Vegas trip is being paid by the commission, which is funded by licensing fees paid by gaming developers.
Next month, Crosby and Commissioner Gayle Cameron will head to gambling meccas in Singapore and Macau to meet with regulators and casino officials.
A board spokeswoman had no estimated cost of the Asia trip.
“We need to know people who have done licensing elsewhere,” Crosby said of the trips. “Meeting other regulators ... that’s really important. This is our work. It’s a legitimate thing for us to be doing.”
But casino opponents blasted the globetrotting.
“Time, energy and resources, at this time, should be spent on completing the commission’s work with regulations and process in Massachusetts and not junkets to worldwide casino destinations,” said Michael Kogut, chairman of Citizens Against Casino Gaming in Springfield.
Added John Ribeiro, chairman of the anti-gambling Repeal the Casino Deal committee: “It’s inevitable that casinos are going to be a major failure for the state. These junkets are just proof of that.”
Crosby is scheduled to sit on a panel at the Sands on Tuesday with Ohio gaming officials and Frederic Gushin, a New Jersey consultant working for the Massachusetts commission.
Among the conference’s keynote speakers are James J. Murren, head of MGM, which is planning a Springfield casino.
http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view.bg?articleid=1061163402&srvc=rss
Officials from MGM Casinos and Caesar’s Entertainment Inc. — both of which are planning Massachusetts gaming palaces — sit on the board of the Global Gaming Expo, a five-day extravaganza at the luxurious Sands Expo & Convention Center in Sin City. Massachusetts Gaming Commission Chairman Stephen Crosby and two other commissioners are headed to the conference Sunday and will be staying at the Sands.
The estimated $10,000 cost of the Vegas trip is being paid by the commission, which is funded by licensing fees paid by gaming developers.
Next month, Crosby and Commissioner Gayle Cameron will head to gambling meccas in Singapore and Macau to meet with regulators and casino officials.
A board spokeswoman had no estimated cost of the Asia trip.
“We need to know people who have done licensing elsewhere,” Crosby said of the trips. “Meeting other regulators ... that’s really important. This is our work. It’s a legitimate thing for us to be doing.”
But casino opponents blasted the globetrotting.
“Time, energy and resources, at this time, should be spent on completing the commission’s work with regulations and process in Massachusetts and not junkets to worldwide casino destinations,” said Michael Kogut, chairman of Citizens Against Casino Gaming in Springfield.
Added John Ribeiro, chairman of the anti-gambling Repeal the Casino Deal committee: “It’s inevitable that casinos are going to be a major failure for the state. These junkets are just proof of that.”
Crosby is scheduled to sit on a panel at the Sands on Tuesday with Ohio gaming officials and Frederic Gushin, a New Jersey consultant working for the Massachusetts commission.
Among the conference’s keynote speakers are James J. Murren, head of MGM, which is planning a Springfield casino.
http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view.bg?articleid=1061163402&srvc=rss
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