Southern New England Casino Briefs

Southern NE Casinos Feeling the Changes in Casino Expansion
Casinos are big business and big revenue for most states. Big politics also seems to accompany, with so much at stake in Southern New England, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massachusetts are all bracing for the future in different ways. Read on...

Rhode Island
Newport Asks for Legislative Help
The Newport Grand is asking Rhode Island for permission to keep a greater percentage of gambling proceeds after voters rejected the slot parlor's bid to become a full-fledged casino. State Rep. Marvin Abney said Thursday that he will sponsor legislation to temporarily increase Newport Grand's cut from just under 28 percent to 31 percent to raise $1.5 million for the facility. After two years the size of the cut would revert to the present rate.

Owner Diane Hurley said Newport Grand is looking for some "breathing space'' after losing its casino bid, so it can "protect jobs and revenues to the state, and make sure we have enough resources to continue marketing ourselves appropriately, but with a short window.''  The main concern is for those who will lose their jobs if Newport Grand closes.

Last fall local voters rejected Newport Grand's request to offer games like blackjack.

Massachusetts
Massachusetts Gaming Commission considering changes
State gaming regulators are moving to eliminate a mandate that Springfield and other communities must wait to hold ballot questions on casino resorts until regulators finish background checks on casino applicants.

In a change of course, the five-member Massachusetts Gaming Commission said on Friday that it is set to approve an emergency regulation to allow a community to hold a referendum prior to the commission completing complex background investigations on casino developers. The commission had always previously insisted that background checks needed to be done before any vote.
State gaming regulators are moving to eliminate a mandate that Springfield and other communities must wait to hold ballot questions on casino resorts until regulators finish background checks on casino applicants. 

Connecticut
Connecticut Casino Slide: Bay Staters Not Coming
More bad news about the golden goose that has provided more than $6 billion in state revenue since the early 1990s. Residents of Massachusetts — arguably the most gambling crazy state in the country — are staying home or going to Rhode Island to play the slots. Researchers from the Center for Policy Analysis at the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth interviewed 3,000 residents from five New England states in January about their gambling habits. The New England Gaming Behavior Survey found:

”Connecticut’s casinos have continued to experience double-digit declines in year-to-year slot revenues … a major reason is because Massachusetts residents have significantly scaled back on the number of visits they make to casinos, while simultaneously shifting more of their visits from Foxwoods to Twin River Casino in Rhode Island …"

That's all for now.  Tomorrow is "Sun" Sunday!

Binbin