by Sasha C. Russell, M.A.,
Program Specialist, Communications, The Massachusetts Council on Compulsive
Gambling
On
Tuesday, January 15th at 5 pm the deadline for the $400,000 Casino Application
in Massachusetts closed. Eleven companies will be vying for one of three casino
licenses or slots parlor license to be given out in February 2014.
In the
Boston area region (Region A), there are 3 competitors: Suffolk Downs, Wynn MA
and Crossroads Massachusetts. In Western Mass region (Region B) there are 4
competitors: MGM Springfield – with Foxwoods, Penn National, Mohegan Sun and
Hard Rock. For the slots parlor license there are 2 competitors: Plainridge
Racecourse and Raynham Park. Two companies that originally applied, but did not
disclose their license type, had until this past Monday, February 18, 2013 to
decide. Mass Gaming & Entertainment and PPE Casino Resorts put their bid in
for a slots parlor license. As for the Southern Mass (Region C) area, the State
and the Mashpee tribe have decided to discuss options on March 21st.
In the meantime, there has not been any further movement as laws and logistics
are still being reviewed.
Though
the applications are in and currently being reviewed, the process is not as
simple as the Mass Gaming Commission performing their background checks on the
companies and select a winner, instead surrounding communities in the proposed
area also have to vote and agree on the terms.
According
to the Western Mass newspaper, The
Republican, article “Massachusetts
Gaming Commission moves to help communities deal with casinos” by Dan Ring,
the Gaming Commission will contract a $40,000 project with the Edward J. Collins Jr. Center for Public Management at UMass
Boston to help educate possible casino communities. Ring stated, “Under the
project, the center would produce a report on items that should be included in
agreements between communities and casino companies, reports on the lessons
learned from casinos in communities in other states and a snapshot of the
state's 2011 gambling law.”
Last
week was the deadline for the Gaming Commission to accept public comments on
what would actually define a “surrounding community” for the purpose of
approval agreements with the possible casinos. Once that is figured out,
communities can then propose ballot questions to open up further discussion on
casino expansion.
In the
meantime, the 15 community colleges across the state have started to make an
investment in the casino expansion themselves. The colleges, working with
several workforce development agencies, created the Massachusetts Casino
Careers Training Institute. Currently all 15 colleges have signed job
agreements with the 11 possible candidates for casino and slots parlor licenses.
According to an article on WAMC (here),
“The agreement commits the casino operators to work with the community colleges
and regional employment boards towards the goal of filling casino jobs with
local people who are unemployed, or underemployed.”
The
Gaming Commission has also made a call for research proposals, which Salem
State University replied. Their proposal said they would focus on “examining
economic development opportunities, jobs, crime, transportation, problem
gambling and a variety of community impacts.” (here)
The Gaming Commission seems to be taking a
slow methodological approach, open to thorough research on the communities
being affected and being sure to do extensive background checks on all
applicants. As noted in an article (here) on Masslive.com, the Gaming Commission is looking to award the
licenses to those companies who will have the most impact over a longer period
of time. So, for now, gambling expansion is a waiting game.
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