Eleven Firms File for MA Casino Licenses
In our last post we mentioned that the application deadline for casino licenses in Massachusetts was the 15th of January, which happened to be yesterday. Counting four last-minute submissions, a total of eleven operators will be competing for licenses to operate either slot machine parlors or casinos in the state.
A 2011 law permits for the establishment of three resort casinos in the state as well as one slots-only parlor.
There will be one license granted for the Western portion of the state. The competition to secure the lone Western Massachusetts license has four big-name contenders who have submitted applications: Penn National Gaming, Hard Rock International, Mohegan Sun, and MGM Resorts. Two others, an individual from the town of Newton, and the company Paper City Development, have requested filing extensions from the state.
As we previously mentioned, competition for the sole Boston-area license has also grown fierce, with Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino getting caught up in the fracas over remarks he made favoring a casino proposed by a partnership of Suffolk Downs and Caesars Entertainment over one proposed by Steve Wynn, which would coincidentally be sited on land partly owned by Menino.
The $400,000 required application fee will be used in part to fund the necessary background and financial investigations into the applicants, with $50,000 of the application fee earmarked for communities to utilize for fees associated with negotiating deals with the casinos.
The Massachusetts Gaming Commission expects to spend several months reviewing the applications and conducting the necessary background checks on all applicants. They hope to be able to open the slots-only parlor by the end of 2013, with the casinos expected to be open to the public sometime in 2014.
Steven Crosby, the head of the commission, was quoted in the Boston Herald as saying, “Background investigations for these applicants are already well under way.”
Via its Twitter page, the Massachusetts Gaming Commission also posted a video of a press conference, a link to which can be found here.
While some the of the applicants for the Massachusetts licenses are big-name, well-known casino corporations, there are a few lesser-known outfits vying for approval. Among the eleventh-hour applicants were PPE Casino Resorts, a division of Cordish Cos. of Baltimore, in addition to Mass Entertainment and Gaming, an affiliate of Rush Street Gaming based out of Chicago.
Neither of these firms has yet determined if they want a full casino license or prefer the slots-only license. Crosby expressed excitement at the number of applications received by the commission, calling it “momentous.”
“The Massachusetts Legislature drafted the expanded gaming act prioritizing competition as a principal value, Crosby said. “The gaming commission has vigorously carried that charge forward, resulting in a gaming competition that is robust and primed to obtain the absolute maximum benefits in job creation, economic growth, revenue and other amenities for the people of Massachusetts.”
With competition from casinos in neighboring states continues to mount, Massachusetts, like many cash-strapped states, is hoping to keep gambling revenue from crossing over, and out of, its borders. The Wynn and Caesars plans for the Boston-area casino both call for construction budgets of $1 billion, so the potential economic benefit to the state is huge.
