Gam[bl]ing Commission to award Slot Barn License next week

It's time to REPEAL THE CASINO DEAL!

Slot parlor license to be awarded next week

 

By Steve DeCosta

sdecosta@s-t.com

February 22, 2014

 

The state's five gaming commissioners will have their noses to the grindstone next week, with a marathon series of meetings in advance of Friday's award of the state's lone slot parlor license.

 

The license will also be the first gaming license to be issued in Massachusetts.

 

In meetings on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, the commissioners will report on the results of their comprehensive evaluation of three applicants, one each in Raynham, Plainville and Leominister.

 

Each commissioner has taken the lead on overseeing a group of advisers and industry experts to evaluate each gaming proposal in key categories: overview of project, finance, economic development, building and site design and mitigation.

 

 

 

"This is truly the culmination of an incredible amount of hard work put forth by the commissioners, commission staff and the dedicated members of the five evaluation teams," chairman Stephen Crosby said on the commission's blog.

 

Crosby said that as a result of a "highly competitive process, the commission has had the difficult and exciting task of evaluating absolute first-rate proposals."

 

He said the commission is "eager to take this final step in bringing to bear the thousands of jobs and revenue benefits that await the citizens of the Commonwealth."

 

The applicants are:

 

Raynham Park, a partnership between Greenwood Racing Inc. and George Carney, owner of the former greyhound race track, to develop and operate a $220 million slots facility on 125 acres near both Route 495 and Route 24 in Raynham.

 

Penn National of Wyomissing, Penn., which has partnered with Plainridge Racecourse for a $225 million slots parlor near Routes 495 and 1 that the developers said would save harness racing in Masschusetts.

 

 

 

Cordish Companies of Baltimore, which hopes to develop the $200 million Massachusetts Live! Casino off I-190 and Route 117 in Leominister.

 

Each meeting will begin at 9:30 a.m. at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center. A live stream will be available on the MassGaming website and live meeting updates will be provided by the commission on Twitter, @MassGamingComm.

 

In addition, the Gaming Commission will meet at 1:30 p.m. Monday to discuss surrounding community designations for Eastern Massachusetts and recent correspondence from the City of Boston relating to resort-casino applications in Everett and Revere.

 

The first resort casino licenses — in Greater Boston and Western Massachusetts — are scheduled to be awarded by May. A license for Southeastern Massachusetts will not be awarded until November.

 

 

http://www.southcoasttoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20140222/NEWS/402220338/-1/news

 

 

Thanks No Casino Leominster!

Cordish was booted from 3 other communities before their slick pr campaign......


Three times a loser and we took the bait!We were the fourth community on the selection list. Danvers, Boxborough, and Salisbury all had the good sense to refuse the Las Vegas style Live! brand slots parlor. These communities had town selectmen who were engaged in discussion and the selection process. Residents in these towns had a chance to speak. All we got was a well-funded, biased marketing campaign. See the Boston Business Journal article for details.


Communities that education themselves OPPOSE PREDATORY GAMBLING!

I join my nosy neighbor in saluting Leominster for recognizing the only way to protect every community in the Commonwealth is


REPEAL THE CASINO DEAL!  

Mary Tufts

No Slots in Leominster puts Repeal the Casino Deal right at the top of their home page - thanks, NSL!

 

 

Get involved: Repeal the Deal Signature Drive!

This is a bipartisan, statewide, volunteer initiative to get a referendum question on the November 2014 ballot that would repeal casinos, including slots parlors, in Massachusetts. Join us in gathering signatures at the Leominster Market Basket on Sat. 10/28/13 or stop by to sign the petition. We will be there between 8-10 and need volunteers between 10-12. If you can volunteer some time, please send an email to nocasinosinleominster@gmail.com and include your name, address, and phone nuhttp://www.noslotsleominster.com/noslots/index.htmlmber.

http://www.noslotsleominster.com/noslots/index.html

 

 

Gaming board lends an ear + POLL

Gaming board lends an ear

By Jack Minch, jminch@sentinelandenterprise.com

Posted: 10/22/2013 07:01:31 AM EDT

Massachusetts Gaming Commissioner Bruce Stebbins, left, takes notes, as William P. Devereaux, of Pannon Lopes Devereaux & West, representing Fitchburg, speaks at the podium during a public hearing Monday in Lancaster. See video and slide show at sentinelandenterprise.com. SENTINEL & ENTERPRISE / BRETT CRAWFORD

LANCASTER -- While there wasn't any new ground broken Monday in an ongoing debate about the proposed slots casino, it was good to hear opinions first-hand, said commission Chairman Stephen Crosby.

 

Members of the state Gaming Commission spent 3 1/2 hours informing residents and municipal leaders from communities outside Leominster about the merits of a slots casino if it grants a license to open on the border of Lancaster and Leominster.

 

"Hearing from you will help us inform our thinking going forward trying to make this difficult decision," Crosby said.

 

The Cordish Companies is proposing a $200 million slots casino on Leominster's Jungle Road, which is near the Lancaster line.

 

Today's Question - Oct. 22

How much negative impact do you believe the proposed slots casino for Leominster would have on neighboring communities?

A lot A little None at all

The proposed casino will be 125,000 square feet with 1,250 slot machines and electronic games.

Other developers are proposing similar plans in Plainville and Raynham.

 

The commission has one license to issue and expects to make a decision by early January. It is also responsible for issuing licenses next year for three full casinos that will be placed in the western, eastern and southern parts of the state.

 

Monday was the first time for many speakers to voice their opinions publicly since the proposal was introduced this summer. Seventy-nine people signed up to address the commission, though some left before getting a chance. Most were from Leominster and Lunenburg, but there were also residents from Sterling and Bolton.

 

Crosby warned the audience that the meeting was not to debate whether the state should allow casinos at all; rather, comments should focus on the Leominster proposal.

 

A similar meeting is scheduled to be held in Wrentham for the Plainville proposal tonight and a meeting in Easton to discuss the Raynham proposal Wednesday.

 

The commission plans to hold another meeting in Leominster in early December.

 

Casino opponents hold signs outside the Lancaster Community Center during the state Gaming Commission's public hearing on Monday.

 

Proponents and opponents talked about jobs created, the negative impacts on traffic along roads such as Route 117, the impact on area businesses, the impact on response times for emergency services due to traffic, and the size of the project -- it was originally planned as 16 acres and could now be 26 acres.

 

Opponents walked past windows outside the Community Center, holding signs denouncing the proposal and then pushing them up against the windows.

 

Casino supporters reminded the commission that it will create 500-700 permanent jobs and about 600 temporary construction jobs to help stimulate employment and the economy.

 

State Rep.

Lynn Percuoco, 19, of Leominster, talks to the Gaming Commission panel.

Dennis Rosa argued the project will help the Gateway Cities of Leominster and Fitchburg, which each have more than 40,000 residents and have been targeted by the state for economic revitalization.

 

"You can affect almost 100,000 people in two communities, two Gateway communities, out of 26 in the state," Rosa said.

 

Opponents painted a picture of David versus Goliath, in which The Cordish Companies has spent lavishly to build support but No Casino in Leominster has had few donations and little time to prepare but managed to find its own supporters.

 

"If there is more time, there's a possibility Leominster wouldn't even be in the running right now," said Corey Shields, of Leominster.

 

Traffic along Route 117 was a popular concern.

 

Lancaster Selectman Stan Starr makes a point.

 

"This project will have a significant impact on traffic in Bolton and Lancaster," said Bolton Town Administrator Don Lowe.

 

Fitchburg sent a contingent of lawyers and Housing Director Ryan McNutt to say The Cordish Companies is not giving their concern about impact enough credence.

 

"Their dialogue with the city of Fitchburg has not exactly been overwhelming," said attorney William P. Devereaux said. "We would ask the commission to monitor how Cordish deals with the surrounding communities."

 

Fitchburg City Solicitor John Barrett said it isn't fair to compare the impact of the proposed Leominster casino with The Cordish Companies' full casino in Hanover, Md.

 

Anti-casino leader Arline Stith speaks to the Gaming Commission panel.

 

"We expect there will be residual traffic issues given the close relationship between Fitchburg and Leominster," he said.

 

Lancaster residents said it isn't fair they didn't get a vote as to whether to allow the proposal as Leominster residents did.

 

David Joyce, of Brockelman Road, Lancaster, said his house is a quarter-mile from the proposed casino and he didn't get to vote but Leominster residents on the other side of the city did get to cast ballots.

 

Voting should have been based on distance to the casino rather than municipal boundaries, Joyce said.

 

"I used to see the stars from my house, now I can see half the stars," he said. "When there's a 15-story hotel I won't see any of the stars."

Read more: http://www.sentinelandenterprise.com/news/ci_24360112/gaming-board-lends-an-ear#ixzz2iUdyrRK9