Massachusetts Swings Both Ways with Casino Vote

The MGM Springfield is one feasible casino coming to Massachusetts in the long run; it got a thumbs up from local voters this week

This previous week saw plenty of voting occurring across Massachusetts, including two key votes on proposed casino projects in the state. The outcomes had been split, giving both casino proponents and their opponents something to crow about.

Hard Rock Hits the Skids

The bigger vote came in the town of West Springfield, where there had been a proposition to construct an $800 million tricky Rock casino. The casino ended up being anticipated to be among the competitors that are key the Western Massachusetts casino license.

But that project had been dealt just what could possibly be a deadly blow on Tuesday, after the voters of West Springfield decided to reject the plan in a referendum that is public. About 55% of voters there voted against the casino, with 4,165 coming away against the project versus just 3,413 because of it. The loss came as a surprise to many, while the campaign saw supporters of this casino drastically outspend opponents.

That rejection narrows the competition for the sole casino license in Western Massachusetts. During the moment, it appears that only two candidates have actually a chance at that permit: an MGM task in Springfield, and a Mohegan Sun proposal that could be located in Palmer. The Palmer proposal nevertheless needs to be voted on by residents, while the MGM plan was approved by Springfield voters.

Heavy Spending No Help

The western Springfield casino would have been built on the web site associated with the Eastern States Exposition, house to your Big E the biggest agricultural fair in New England. Early, it appeared as though Hard Rock had chance that is little overcome initial opposition to the task. That changed a bit as the casino string invested nearly $1 million campaigning for the project and made promises about the quantity of revenue they would bring in for western Springfield yearly.

Ultimately, though, opposition groups had the ability to make their instance better, and the project was soundly defeated. The victory was seen as a big victory for anti-casino groups across the state, all of which are defectively financed in comparison with their pro-casino opponents.

The other vote into the state could have had a much more result that is surprising. Into the town of Plainville, an agenda to develop a slot parlor at Plainridge Racecourse was overwhelming approved with 76% associated with the vote. A total of 1,582 voters came out in favor of the master plan versus only 502 against.

The win capped a turnaround that is remarkable Plainridge. Just month that is last state regulators determined that the track’s ownership group was unfit to compete for the single slots parlor license that has been available. But Penn National made a last-minute go on to purchase the track, overpowering the slots parlor proposal as well. That was enough to match the Gaming Commission, which provided their approval for the project.

Needless to say, not everybody was pleased using the racino’s approval.

‘ The process isn’t working,’ said Mary-Ann Greanier, a known user of No Plainville Racino. ‘The safeguards we were told you may anticipate are not taking place.’

The Plainville task will compete against racino proposals in Raynham and Leominster, though the Leominster project must be approved by still voters.

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Along with these projects, there are also three applicants for a license in the Greater Boston area: a Foxwoods proposal in Milford, a Wynn Resorts casino task in Everett, and a Suffolk Downs project in East Boston. There’s also a license that is single in Southeastern Massachusetts, but as of yet, no developers have used for a license in that area.

Gambling Business Criticizes First Draft of Florida Pari-Mutuel Rules

Parimutuel wagering and jai-alai are getting the focus as Florida reviews its racetrack and rules that are betting.

In an effort to reform hawaii’s gambling industry, Florida is working on several fronts towards clarifying and changing most rules that govern betting in the Sunshine State. One area of attention is on pari-mutuel wagering: the betting that goes on during the state’s race tracks and frontons that are jai-alai the state. But industry insiders state that the first draft of rules that have been proposed by state regulators simply will not work.

Workshop to Hammer Out Wagering Rules

Those rules will ultimately be discussed at a workshop with the Division of Pari-Mutuel Wagering on October 16, but were first released in a draft kind last week. The rules were created to stop a growing number of questionable techniques that are demonstrably outside of what the state intends to enable at such venues. And even though many of these new rules work, those in the industry say that numerous merely reveal that regulators aren’t familiar sufficient with Florida’s gambling industry in order to make such sweeping changes.

‘Some of them sound right,’ said Ken Stirling, executive director of the Florida Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association. ‘ Some of them have actuallyn’t been thought out extremely well. One or two are pretty silly.’

Among the big areas covered in the draft rules is horse racing regulations designed to expel non-standard racing. Many in the industry agree that this is a good clear idea, as ‘barrel racing’ and ‘flag-drop’ racing have been seen by some operators as a way to cheaply make payments that will also allow them to provide card spaces or slots alongside those events.

The new rules would help put a conclusion to practices that are such. They’d bar ‘the racing animal to improve program in reaction to any hurdles regarding the surface that is racing and make sure that jockeys conform to uniform and fat demands that wouldn’t be a problem for legitimate racing operations.

Disagreement Over Acceptable Race Lengths

But the laws don’t stop there, and that’s where some feel that the rules go wrong. According to Stirling, some of the rules could devastate the racing industry if they aren’t changed.

For instance, the new regulations would need that all races are at minimum six furlongs in total a thing that might create sense in the event that you’ve only seen the Triple Crown races or the Breeder’s Cup, but making no sense for the industry as a whole.

‘[The rule that] no race must be smaller than…six furlongs…is a killer,’ Stirling said, noting that such races would be too long for two-year-old horses racing within the summer time. ‘That’s silly. We run child races at 4.5 furlongs and we’ve been doing it for a hundred years. I know they truly are in Tallahassee, but we have these things called phones.’

He additionally objected to a rule that states that each battle must have at the very least six horses a rule that may cause races become canceled because of minute that is last.

Jai-Alai would additionally be affected by the new regulations. For example, each location is required to have eight certified players in rotation. This rule comes in response to a controversy at Ocala Poker and Jai-Alai, which started the 2012 period with just two players.

While there may be issues with the rules, unit director Leon Biegalski says there shouldn’t be considered a nagging problem, and that the workshops were created to help iron out these problems with all the industry’s assistance.

‘They’re draft rules. They’re a point that is starting. We should make sure that all of the license holders and all sorts of the stake holders are on the exact same web page in terms of just what the regulation is that’s out there and what is out there,’ Biegalski stated.

2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics Could Mean Gaming Industry Silver

Casino industry leaders were probably just as excited as these Japanese citizens by news regarding the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympic Games.

It is hard to think that 2020 is just seven years away, but that’s the length of time we’ve before the newly-granted Tokyo Summer Olympics will be upon us. But athletes-in-training won’t end up being the only ones reaching for gold, as the casino that is worldwide will also be attempting to produce what up until now has seemed nearly insurmountable: getting legal casinos sanctioned, developed, built, and up and running in time to drive the tourism revolution that those Tokyo games are bound to bring in. With Japan the last great untapped Asian video gaming market, it’s a prize that lots of into the video gaming industry are inspired to attain.

Could the Games end up being the Needed Push?

Japan infamous for decades of foot dragging on the legal casino issue now has extra motivation in order to make it all happen too; the island nation must find a way to foot the expected $1.53 billion bill they will be underwriting to create the venues and infrastructure necessary to host a season that is olympic. Compared to that end, two feasible casinos on the drawing boards, one in Tokyo and one other in Osaka, could bring in $10 billion in yearly gambling revenues, making them exactly the cash cows that the town has to pay its way. Japan industry that is gambling Grant Govertsen principal of Las Vegas-based Union Gaming Group states that amount would be much more than the $6.2 billion that the whole Las vegas, nevada Strip took set for 2012; so it ain’t chump change.

Those profits would produce an estimated ten percent per casino for Tokyo, not to ever mention additional licensing fees and local municipal fees. Govertsen told investors he’s bullish about all of it.

‘ We think the national government should consider integrated resort development, at the very least in Tokyo, as a means to help the related Olympics infrastructure arrived at fruition,’ he told investors following Tokyo games announcement. And Govertsen isn’t the only person who smells money in the Asian metropolis; many of the gaming industry’s biggest players made tracks to Tokyo as soon if they could scout out land for potential casino developments as they heard the announcement to see.

Industry Leaders sites that are scouting

Term has gone out that Sheldon Adelson’s Las Vegas Sands Corp. has its eye on a Tokyo Bay web site, on a bit of reclaimed land, and he’s perhaps not alone riding his covered wagon across the prairie to stake some land out. American behemoths MGM Resorts International and Caesars Entertainment Corp. (the latter of who’s death seems to be grossly exaggerated for a day-to-day basis) were spotted in Japan, as has overseas industry giants SJM and Melco Crown Entertainment. Everybody appears to want in on the potential Gold Rush of 2020.

‘Japan represents a historic chance of tourism expansion in a nation with an incredibly rich cultural history,’ said MGM Resorts Executive Vice President Alan Feldman. ‘Tokyo is in a position that is extraordinary re-energize the whole nation’s tourism and entertainment industry.’ Feldman says MGM has been monitoring happenings in Japan for almost couple of years, and both talking about possible business alliances as well as testing the heat for legislative passage.

And while Japan hasn’t been noted for moving quickly in this arena, the 2020 Tokyo Olympics could possibly be simply the fire they want to bring the gambling cooking pot to a boil at final.

‘In the case of Tokyo, we think there would be government that is significant to complete an integrated resort in time for the opening of 2020 Olympics,’ Govertsen stated.