Sunday, July 28, 2013

Odds growing on slots site in Central Mass.

This is the Twin River gaming floor. This is the newer section of the casino, part of a $225 million dollar expansion that took place in 2007 (T&G staff Photos/BETTY JENEWIN)

 Thomas Caywood, TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

A slots parlor in the heart of Central Massachusetts is looking increasingly possible and, while thought to be a longer shot, a resort casino at the edge of the region in Milford or Palmer could still happen.

The range of possibilities for corporate gambling here has solidified after a flurry of developments over the last few weeks as developers and municipalities rushed to complete agreements and schedule referendums ahead of state deadlines.

The previously shifting geography of the contenders for the state's one slots parlor license finally has been settled with required referendums scheduled in all five communities in the running.

The two Worcester County slots parlor proposals, Rush Street Gaming in Millbury and The Cordish Companies in Leominster, will go to voters in those communities on the same day, Sept. 24.

While residents of both places have raised concerns about the projects, no organized opposition of the kind that emerged in Worcester has yet surfaced in Millbury or Leominster. Both proposals enjoy strong support from local government officials.

Of the three remaining slots projects, one ran into potential trouble Thursday, with state gambling regulators expressing concern that former Plainridge Racecourse President Gary Piontkowski made frequent personal cash withdrawals from the track's money room. Mr. Piontkowski resigned unexpectedly in April, citing health concerns.

The harness racing track's proposal remains in the running under new leadership and is scheduled for a referendum on Sept. 10.

The slots proposal for the former dog track at Raynham Park, the first to face a referendum, will go to Raynham voters in a little over two weeks on Aug. 13.

Penn National Gaming's proposal for a slots parlor in Tewksbury will face voters there on Sept. 21, three days before the two Central Massachusetts slots referendums.

The developers that win support at the polls could then submit final applications for the lone slots parlor license, which the state Gaming Commission expects to award in December.

The eastern and western casino licenses are expected to be awarded next year, while proposals for the southeastern region are on hold pending a federal decision on a tribal casino proposal there.

State gambling regulators have said they will pick the one slots parlor and two resort casinos under their jurisdiction based on the strength of financing, economic development impact, design quality, adequacy of mitigation money and what they've called the "wow factor," a sense that the project would be dramatic and unique.

Charlton land owner Vincent P. Iuliano met with representatives of several gambling companies and became familiar with the licensing process while unsuccessfully marketing his property as a potential site for a gambling venue. He has continued to pay close attention to developments and is betting the slots license will go to the Millbury project pitched by Chicago billionaire Neil Bluhm's Rush Street Gaming.

Mr. Iuliano predicts the Gaming Commission will decide the Leominster and Tewksbury slots sites are too far north to effectively divert Bay State gamblers from heading to casinos in Connecticut and Rhode Island.

"Even if it is a poor location for traffic, Bluhm's meeting the stated requirements, and he's far away from the potential casino locations and in a place to cut off gaming dollars going out of state," Mr. Iuliano said.

The Millbury site on McCracken Road just off the southbound lanes of Rout 146, about a mile from the Worcester border, is directly upstream along the highway from Twin River Casino in Lincoln, R.I.

Twin River Chairman John E. Taylor Jr. said his company has been bracing for competition to the north for years. The casino, which draws more than half of its customers from Massachusetts, added table games to its 4,500 slot machines in June.

"We stopped trying to handicap where the specific locations were going to go a long time ago and focused on what we can do to better position ourselves to compete," Mr. Taylor said.

He politely declined to venture any predictions about which of the proposed Massachusetts projects will win the eastern and western region resort casino licenses and the lone slots parlor license, which is not restricted to a particular region. Even so, he seemed to question whether the harness and former dog tracks in Plainville and Raynham would be seen as too close to an eventual third tribal casino in the southeastern part of the state.

"The commonwealth is going to look at how to maximize revenue. Having them all bunched up in the same general area probably doesn't make sense," Mr. Taylor said.

Plans to redevelop existing tracks into slots parlors also pack less of an economic development punch than the proposals to build new, large buildings in Millbury, Leominster or Tewksbury, figured Mr. Iuliano.

If either of those two lines of thought take hold with gaming commissioners, Central Massachusetts would be the default favorite for the slots parlor with two potential locations in the running.

Meanwhile, Twin River seems to be betting that a resort casino in either East Boston or Everett would not necessarily draw away its customers from Central Massachusetts.

"On a Friday afternoon, do people want to be dealing with traffic getting into Boston? If they're living in the suburbs, it's easier to come to us," Mr. Taylor said.

For that reason, Mr. Iuliano considers the Milford site pitched by Foxwoods as the best location of the three eastern region casino proposals.

"In Milford, you're cutting off money heading west to Connecticut," he said.

But the Foxwoods bid faces organized, well-funded opposition in Milford and surrounding towns and only lukewarm support from town officials, who so far have not agreed to negotiate a host agreement.

The Caesars Entertainment proposal for a resort casino at Suffolk Downs in East Boston could also be in trouble if as-yet-unscheduled referendums in Boston and Revere don't show strong community support.

The Wynn Resorts proposal in Everett already was approved by voters in a landslide victory with a whopping 86 percent of the ballots cast in favor of the project.

"It's tough to beat that," Mr. Iuliano said. "If Boston gets a wishy-washy 51-to-49-percent approval, and everything's the same in terms of revenue, I think the gaming commission will go with Everett. They want to see community support."

In the western region, Mohegan Sun's proposed casino in Palmer would border Worcester County and potentially draw off business from a slots parlor in either Millbury or Leominster.

Mohegan Sun and Palmer have yet to reach a host community agreement, which must happen before a referendum can be scheduled. Town Manager Charles T. Blanchard said negotiations likely will be concluded and an agreement signed in the next few weeks.

The Springfield referendum on the MGM Resorts proposal for a downtown casino passed easily earlier this month with 58 percent of the vote.

The third contender for the western license is the Hard Rock International bid in West Springfield. That proposal will go to voters on Sept. 10.

Mr. Iuliano predicts financially ailing Springfield will win out when the gaming commission makes its pick early next year.

"They've already got the vote," he said, "and MGM is the heaviest funded casino company in the world. They're enormous."

http://www.telegram.com/article/20130728/NEWS/307289917/1116