While New York celebrated the passage of its expanded casino referendum in the state, it’s lovely neighbor up north is also having quite an eventful past few days.
See, Massachusetts has three casino licenses it wants to give out. With these licenses being dangled out, a number of prospective casino operators have pitched their respective proposals on why they should be rewarded with the state’s equivalent of Willy Wonka’s Golden Ticket.
But just when it seemed that a pair of operators were going to have their respective referendums approved, voters in Palmer and East Boston swatted both bids back to the ground, leaving Mohegan Sun and Suffolk Downs scratching their heads and wondering if their worlds had turned upside down.
Suffolk Downs did get approval in Revere in a separate referendum but without the same vote of confidence from the folks over at East Boston – a requirement before it could formally apply to the Massachusetts Gaming Commission for a license because Suffolk Down’s proposed casinos will straddle both towns – the company is likely to take a step back and come up with an alternative plan on how best to proceed with its casino license application.
One such scenario would involve relocating the proposed casino and fit it entirely within Revere’s borders. According to reports, Revere Mayor Dan Rizzo has already put that idea out on front street with the hopes of convincing Suffolk Downs to seriously considering putting its development solely on Revere so it won’t have to worry about a majority of East Boston voters’ apparent opposition of putting up a casino on their own backyard.
Meanwhile, the Mohegan Sun’s casino referendum in Palmer also saw the company’s push to secure a casino license get thrown back in its face. It was far from a consensus, though, as unofficial returns showed Mohegan’s casino proposal lose by less than 100 votes out of 5,200 that were cast during voting.
The too-close-for-comfort result has compelled Mohegan to seriously think about seeking for a recount, with the company arguing that technical problems in one precinct could have swayed the votes in one direction. “Because of technical problems with the voting machine in Precinct 2 that are very troubling, we will be asking the Town of Palmer for a hand recount of the ballots in today’s election,” Mitchell Etess, chief executive of the Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority, said in a statement.
In the event that Mohegan’s bid for a recount amounts to the same results, the one casino license in western Massachusetts will only have one operator still in the picture: MGM Resorts. It already secured a referendum approval from voters in Springfield and though the state gambling commission has yet to do a thorough background check on the company, MGM already has something Mohegan Sun doesn’t: voters’ support
Over in the eastern region, Suffolk Downs is still technically in the hunt, although it has its own serious competition from Wynn Resorts, whose proposal was resoundingly approved by voters from Everett back in June to built a resort casino along Mystic River.
However these license applications play out, Suffolk Downs and Mohegan Sun will have to carry the burden of having already been rejected by voters and if the state’s gambling commission is true to its recent form, it has no problem reminding both Suffolk Downs and Mohegan Sun that the people they’re pitching to wants nothing to do with their business.
