The head of Massachusetts’ gaming commission is offering advice for potential casino developers to ensure they think “outside the box” when bidding for one of the three coveted casino licences in the state.
In an interview with The Associated Press, Stephen Crosby said he wants developers to offer “innovative approaches” to job creation while also “minimising any potentially negative impacts on host communities”.
Crosby has also apparently planned visits to states that have casino gambling in the hope to meet with civic leaders and interest groups and to discover whether casino operators kept their promises after opening.
As the casino bill currently heads its way through Florida’s legislature, hotel managers in Miami are kicking off as they fear Vegas style casino resorts will have a detrimental effect on the existing hotel industry.
In the Miami Herald, Kimpton Hotels CEO Mike Depatie, who runs the 411-room Epic hotel nearby the proposed Sands site, said: “If you are in the gaming business and the rooms business, the gaming business wins and you give the rooms away. That is a threat to any hotel.”
According to the report, Malaysia’s Genting is pushing the largest resort plan the waterfront in downtown Miami with 5,200 rooms in six towers. Las Vegas Sands Corp, however, is pushing another plan in the downtown area similar in size.
So far, Walt Disney World has funded a lot of the opposition to the casino bill, but with this news, it wouldn’t surprise us if many hotel giants who feel threatened by the casinos start getting involved and lobbying against the bill.
Over in New Delhi, the government is thinking about bringing in a ‘gaming regulator’ for its casino business.
The proposal, which would bring in a regulator similar that which operates in Goa, has been submitted by the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) to the Finance Ministry after it carried out an assessment of the sector to detect suspicious and counterfeit currency transactions.
According to the Financial Express, the Casino Sector Assessment Committee (CSAC), which is headed by the FIU Director, has recommended that the Casino business in India should be brought under a “comprehensive legal framework”.
“Autonomous regulators or gaming regulators” could also be created for combating financing of terror regulations in the sector, the report reveals.
