Seven Complete $400.000 Application Fee
The following is an article by By BRIDGET MURPHY and BOB SALSBERG of the AP
The field of competitors for casino licenses in eastern and western Massachusetts took shape on Monday with several companies submitting initial applications along with nonrefundable $400,000 application fees in advance of a key deadline set by the state gaming commission.
The commission said a total of seven companies, including ones that had submitted applications previously, had met the panel’s deadline of 5 p.m. Tuesday. Here's the rundown on the competition:
- Wynn, whose prominent Las Vegas properties include the Bellagio, The Mirage and Treasure Island, secured a lease on the 37-acre site in Everett after abandoning an earlier plan to develop a resort casino in Foxborough on land owned by Robert Kraft, owner of the New England Patriots.
- Michael Weaver, a spokesman for Wynn, said plans for the project include a resort with 300 to 500 rooms, a luxury spa, fine and casual dining restaurants, meeting and convention space, and a shopping esplanade.
- Also competing for the eastern Massachusetts casino license are the operators of Suffolk Downs, who had paid the $400,000 fee earlier and formally submitted the application on Monday. They have partnered with Caesar’s Entertainment for a proposed $1 billion resort at the site of the 77-year-old racetrack in East Boston.
- Mohegan Sun on Monday formally joined three other companies competing for the western Massachusetts casino license. Mitchell Estess, CEO of the Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority, said it struck a partnership with New York investment group Brigade Capital Management to bankroll the development, which would feature gambling, a hotel, a spa, retail stores and restaurants on land adjacent to the Massachusetts Turnpike.
- MGM Resorts and Penn National Gaming have both proposed casinos in Springfield, and Hard Rock International on Friday announced plans to develop a resort at the Eastern States Exposition in West Springfield.
- The casino law gave first crack in the southeastern Massachusetts region to a federally recognized Massachusetts Indian tribe. The Mashpee Wampanoag tribe has proposed a casino for Taunton, but the gaming commission has said it could begin accepting applications from commercial developers later this year if the tribe does not demonstrate progress in renegotiating a casino compact with the state that was rejected by the U.S. Interior Department or advancing a bid to place the Taunton land in federal trust.
- So far, only the Plainridge harness racetrack in Plainville has formally applied for the sole license to operate a slots-only facility.
- George Carney, president of Raynham Park, a former dog-racing track, told The Associated Press in December that he also planned to seek the slots license.
Mass. Community Colleges Readying To Train Casino Workers
According to Monica Brady-Myerov of 90.9 wbur, fifteen community colleges signed a deal with hopeful casino developers this week to prepare students for the state’s gaming industry. The colleges, along with other worker-training programs, formed the Massachusetts Casino Careers Training Institute.
Jeremy Solomon, spokesman for MassBay Community College, says community colleges are well-positioned to train casino workers. “There will be new jobs and new skills required both from the industry itself, but also from business management, accounting, hospitality, culinary arts,” Solomon said. “You know, other things that we can assume will be coming along with the actual casinos themselves.” There could be as many as 3,000 new jobs once the casinos open.
That's all for now! Tomorrow is Foxwoods Fridays!
Binbin
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