It was a good run for Wynn Resorts, the gambling behemoth that landed the big prize in the state’s casino sweepstakes when it was awarded the one license to run a casino (i.e., print money) in the Boston region. But as the company moguls well know, luck is fickle thing. Indeed, their entire business model […]
MA Gaming Commission
Posted inGambling
Sports betting could be next gambling frontier
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE WAGERS MIGHT GENERATE between about $9 million and $61 million in state tax revenue if lawmakers decide to make sports betting legal in Massachusetts, the Gaming Commission said Thursday in a white paper that mapped out how the Legislature might think about introducing another new form of gaming in the Bay […]
Posted inThe Download
The Codcast: The nuclear option for Wynn Resorts
Could the Massachusetts Gaming Commission really pull the plug on the $2.4 billion Wynn Resorts hotel and casino going up in Everett? Chip Tuttle and Jay Gonzalez are at the forefront of those pressing for the commission to do just that. They say the resignation of Steve Wynn as chairman and chief executive of Wynn […]
Posted inThe Download
A Wynn-lose situation
If you lie down with dogs, you might end up with fleas. So goes the old saw, versions of which have been variously attributed to everyone from Ben Franklin to the Roman rhetorician Seneca. In today’s context, the dog is the state’s startup casino sector, an industry that has historically not been unfamiliar ground for […]
Posted inThe Download
How far should unsuitability go?
Gov. Charlie Baker said that if the allegations against Steve Wynn by his employees are verified, then the casino developer should be declared unsuitable to hold a casino license in Massachusetts. Boston Globe columnist Joan Vennochi doesn’t need any verification. “Based on the charges, Wynn is not ‘suitable’ to operate a casino in Massachusetts,” she […]
Posted inUncategorized
Pot board finds a home
SALT AND PEPPER. Hammer and nail. Bacon and eggs. Crimson and clover. Yin and yang. Pot and gambling. All things that apparently go together in many people’s minds. The Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission has finally landed some temporary office space and it is in the same building – actually, on the same floor – as […]
Posted inGambling
Watching the games people play
SECRETED ON THE 12th floor of 101 Federal Street in Boston’s Financial District is a windowless command center, manned 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Keycard entry is so restricted and the information so sensitive that even top level managers don’t have access. Four big-screen monitors are mounted on the wall with information […]
Posted inGambling, Politics
Beating the craps out of each other
Illustration by Phil Foster CASINOS ARE ABOUT GAMBLING. Take away the restaurants, the shops, and the entertainment and what remains is the foundational reason for a casino’s existence—getting people to come and leave their money behind, lured by the slim chance they might walk away with a fatter wallet. Those who build and operate the […]
Posted inGambling
Audit: Plainridge Casino falls short in hiring goals
A NEW AUDIT says the Massachusetts Gaming Commission dropped the ball in its mandate to ensure that Plainridge Park Casino met its agreed-upon local hiring goals and that the state’s only slots parlor failed to garnish winnings of patrons to pay back delinquent child support. “Allowing Plainridge to not accomplish its plan goals could result […]
Posted inGambling, The Download
Mashpee Wampanoag tribe places big bet
The Mashpee Wampanoag tribe went all-in on its proposed Taunton casino on Monday, announcing the facility would begin opening in phases next year. The aggressive move by the tribe to accelerate its construction schedule is an attempt to sway the Massachusetts Gaming Commission and intimidate its would-be commercial rival, Mass Gaming and Entertainment, which wants […]