New England’s Casino Wars Are Officially Underway
Have you heard the one where Massachusetts built a casino industry, and other New England states scrambled?
It’s been told before, like when a Maine gambling consultancy got legislators to ponder doubling its casino fleet from two to four, or when Rhode Island officials warned that a Massachusetts casino along its border could spell trouble for its own coffers. But now, the chess match brought on by the forthcoming slots parlor and resort casinos in the Bay State has really gotten underway.
Let’s start in Rhode Island, where Newport Grand Casino has for years wanted to transition from a slots parlor to offering full table games. Part of the reason: the threat brought by casinos in Massachusetts. A study out of Rhode Island last year found that, if the final Massachusetts casino license were to wind up along the Rhode Island border, Newport Grand could see its revenues fall by more than $30 million per year within five years.
However, the proposal to expand Newport Grand was rejected by city voters twice, including last November. After the most recent failure, the owners of Rhode Island’s other gambling establishment, the full-service Twin River Casino in Lincoln, agreed to buy Newport Grand.
On Tuesday, Newport Grand’s new operator revealed that it’s going to raise the stakes. It wants to move from Newport to Tiverton, even closer to the Massachusetts border, where it hopes to include table games. The proposal would be subject to state approval process, as well as voter support, according to The Providence Journal.
“[W]e strongly believe this is the state’s best opportunity to preserve and grow the approximately $30 million in gaming revenue from existing Newport Grand operations and equally important, preserve and grow the existing workforce,’’ Twin River Chairman John Taylor said Tuesday, according to WPRI in Providence.
The news comes as the Massachusetts Gaming Commission prepares to consider bidders for a casino license in the southeastern part of the state. Two of the proposals on the table—one in New Bedford and one in Somerset—are within a 25-minute drive of Tiverton.
Rhode Island is also facing pressure on its northern border, as Massachusetts’s very first gaming establishment, the Plainridge Park Casino slots parlor in Plainville, will be located within striking distance of Twin River. Plainridge Park is scheduled to open June 24.
Meanwhile, in Connecticut, a bill that would allow for three new tribal casinos is slithering through the state’s legislature. Connecticut has two big resort casinos (Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun), but both are located in its southeastern corner. In western Massachusetts, work is underway on Springfield’s MGM resort casino, which will be closer to much of Connecticut than either of the Nutmeg State’s existing casinos. In other words, Connecticut has left its western flank undefended from the new Massachusetts gambling apparatus.
“The fact is, whether we like gambling or not, [Massachusetts casinos] are counting on 80 percent of their revenues coming from the state of Connecticut,’’ Connecticut state Sen. Steve Cassano said, according to The Hartford Courant (though he was likely referring to just the Springfield casino). “We don’t have enough money … we’re all scrambling now.’’
Massachusetts gamblers, estimates have said, spend about $1 billion per year at New England casinos. Connecticut and Rhode Island recognize they are going to lose much of their share of that. But comments from officials suggest they’re even more worried about losing their own dollars to the Massachusetts casinos to come.
That’s not all: New Hampshire is once again this year considering adding casinos, and Maine may yet add a couple more. All this, and gambling titan Steve Wynn hasn’t even broken ground in Everett yet.
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