Who is a member?
Our members are the local governments of Massachusetts and their elected and appointed leadership.
When Massachusetts issues licenses to gaming applicants in 2014, it will join 23 other states across the nation that host commercial casinos in what continues to be a high-value national industry.
In 2012, the commercial casino industry in the United States brought in $37.3 billion, the second-highest level of revenue on record, according to the American Gaming Association’s 2013 State of the States survey. The gaming industry in 2012 employed 332,075 people nationally in 464 land-based or riverboat casinos and 466 tribal casinos, as well as in other gaming establishments.
The AGA survey indicated that one-third of American adults had visited a casino to gamble within the past year, and three-quarters of those who visited planned to come back within the next year.
Electronic gambling machines are the biggest gaming draw, and most patrons indicate that fine dining is the most important non-gaming amenity. More than one-quarter of survey respondents indicated that they rarely or never gambled during their casino visits, underlying the importance of non-gaming amenities. Despite a strong interest in casino gambling, a majority of those surveyed indicated a preference for playing the lottery.
Connecticut ranked as the fifth-largest casino market in the nation, with a value of $1.23 billion.
In Massachusetts, expanded gaming will create significant revenue for the state as well as a significant number of construction and permanent jobs. Massachusetts will receive 25 percent of gaming revenues from resort casinos and 40 percent of revenues from the slots parlor, which together have been estimated at between $300 million and $500 million per year.
Expanded gaming in Massachusetts is expected to create 8,000-10,000 construction jobs and 8,000-10,000 permanent jobs, depending upon the specific projects licensed. Each applicant has established a preference for local hiring.
The Massachusetts Gaming Commission continued to meet frequently throughout December, holding regular meetings, suitability hearings, and host community meetings for prospective slots parlors.
The commission is expected to make positive determinations of suitability for Wynn LLC, which is seeking to build a resort casino in Everett, and MGM Springfield, which is seeking to build a resort casino in Springfield.
Suffolk Downs, with new operating partner Mohegan Sun, requested a waiver from the commission to hold a second voter referendum in Revere in the coming weeks on the establishment of a Revere-only casino. The original referendum approved by Revere voters was for a casino straddling East Boston and Revere, but East Boston voters rejected the proposal at the ballot in November. Project proponents subsequently reconfigured the proposed development so that it would be entirely within Revere. Without a waiver from the commission, the applicant would need to wait 180 days before holding another referendum, which would effectively exclude the application from consideration.
Final resort casino applications are due on Dec. 31, with licenses scheduled to be awarded in April. Region A (Greater Boston) is likely to have two applicants for one license: Wynn LLC in Everett and Suffolk Downs/Mohegan Sun in Revere. Region B (western Massachusetts) will have one applicant for one license, MGM Springfield in Springfield.
In Region C (southeastern Massachusetts), the Wampanoag Tribe of Aquinnah announced in November that it had a legal analysis from the National Indian Gaming Commission affirming its right to develop a gaming establishment on tribal land in Martha’s Vineyard, but Gov. Deval Patrick has filed suit to stop the proposal. The state contends that the tribe conceded its gaming right in a 1988 agreement.
The federal Bureau of Indian Affairs, meanwhile, has not yet acted on the second negotiated agreement between the state and the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe, which is seeking to build a tribal casino in Taunton (also Region C). The commission established a parallel track in the region for prospective commercial resort casino developers in case the tribal process does not proceed in a timely fashion, retaining the right to make decisions on the award of a commercial license in the future.
The commission is expected to award the state’s sole slots parlor license to one of three applicants early in 2014. At a mid-December meeting of the commission, an award timeline of late February or early March was established to allow for potential arbitration proceedings between applicants and surrounding communities. Previously, the target award date was in January.
The applicants competing for the slots license are Penn National Gaming in Plainville, PPE Casino Resorts (Cordish) in Leominster, and Raynham Park LLC in Raynham.