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State bets on Wynn for Boston-area casino
By adamg on Tue, 09/16/2014 - 2:05pm
The state Gaming Commission voted today to pick the Wynn proposal for Everett over the Mohegan Sun proposal for Suffolk Downs, with three of the four commissioners saying Wynn's proposal would be better for the area, workers and the environment.
Commission members said Wynn proved it had greater capital to ensure its project could get built and then run through challenging economic times - and would spend more money locally than Mohegan Sun. Also, if Wynn doesn't build, the contaminated, empty site on which it would be built would stay a contaminated, empty site.
Only acting Commission Chairman James McHugh - Chairman Stephen Crosby recused himself weeks ago due to his past business dealings with one of the owners of the Everett site - expressed hesitation about Wynn, partly because he's not convinced the project will pass state environmental muster and partly because Boston, which has opposed Wynn's proposal, would also be responsible for some project approvals due to its location right on the city line. Also, he noted that surrounding communities, including Boston, have reached mitigation agreements with Mohegan Sun but not Wynn.
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Comments
Atlantic City v2.0
Might as well drop an atomic bomb on Everett.
Rural CT
Edit: This was intended to be posted below in a response to another comment.
Atlantic City has a dozen Casinos which was OK when there wasn't any competition but too many when you didn't need to go to that swamp to gamble. A few casinos will still do OK.
Boston will have one Casino assuming the ballot initiative fails. It will likely suck more life out of the reservation casinos in CT which are already hurting from competition. A good portion of their clientele came from the greater Boston area and these people no longer have drive to waste away their retirement money.
Some may even head north
..to NH or Maine if they fire up chump tax panacea pits. Less traffic.
You mean Everett hasn't
You mean Everett hasn't already had a bomb dropped on it?
The Wynn project ensures that
The Wynn project ensures that the residents of Charlestown and nearby Somerville will not be getting the neighborhood that they have been fighting for, with the Sullivan Sq redesign to be more pedestrian friendly and using wasteful ramps and roads for development to reknit the neighborhood together will instead be focused on how to get more cars and trucks through the square to Everett, shortchanging Boston on taxes on the development potential and the residents on the ability to safely walk to the T station and around their neighborhood. Back to the 50s.
E. Boston
Not to mention the fact that E. Boston voted it down months ago. Have a hard time imagining awarding it to just the Revere side of the property?
The timing is outstanding.
Atlantic City is booming.
http://gothamist.com/2014/09/16/atlantic_city_trump_plaza.php
Nice knowing you, Suffolk Downs
Shame that a great sports city can't sustain live horse racing. Grantville, PA, Altoona, IA, and Shakopee, MN (albeit with slot subsidies) will have live horse racing while Boston will not.
Live horse racing
is for losers, just like all forms of gambling, legal and illegal. Plus its an overt example of animal abuse. Drugging is common. Beating during training is common. Why is it not animal abuse when the jockeys hit their horses to run faster? Answer. It is.
That's a completely asinine remark
I play in national horse handicapping championships in Las Vegas. I can assure you that neither I nor anybody who plays in them is a "loser." The guy who won my most recent competition in which I played has an engineering degree from UCLA and is perhaps one of the most brilliant folks I've encountered.
And they don't hit the horses to make them run faster, they hit them to keep them on course so that they don't run into other horses.
Yes, and as anyone who has spent 10 minutes
at Suffolk Downs can tell you, it's just chock full of winners! And they hit the poor horses so that they keep making money for their owners so that maybe someday when they're all used up they can play dodge em with taxi cabs while dragging tourists around!
Do you like anything?
Sincere question.
Sincere answer
Animals. The purest of creatures.
Race horses are actually
Race horses are actually treated really well. I bet you're one of those vegetarians who eats chicken and fish.
So you admit they hit the horses
But its not animal abuse, right?
Also I am happy for you that you are a winner. The majority of gamblers are losers. That's the way gambling works, and that's the only way it can work mathmatically. And you didn't address the doping of horses either.
Reminds me of
a guy that I used to work with in the 70s. He loved the 'hosses" and every other form of gambling. We caught him stealing from the company to support his habit, so he was fired.
Yeah, he was a loser.
That adds a lot to the
That adds a lot to the conversation.
Ish
Your comment adds even less to the conversation, and so on , and so on.
Enough with the whipping
You ever watch the NFL? Where drugging is common? Where beating during training is common? Where players in some positions are essentially out there as fodder to ruin their bodies during a short career which ends with decrepit bodies and minds? I'd much rather be a $2,000 claimer than a lineman or tackle. At least the NTRA is taking steps to improve the sport, while in other sports they bury their heads in the sand.
Yet one is a dying sport, and the other is the most popular in the United States.
We can only hope Suffolk Downs will survive
But hope and reality is not the same thing.
I know the rise of other types of gambling spelled the end of the glory days of horse racing (when the circuit battled for racing dates), but how much of the decline is the fault of the industry, or Suffolk Downs in particular? I mean, who knows when the season opened, when you could go for live racing, or when the season ends? Their marketing is horrible. They tried a few years back, but it was weak at most.
I will miss horse racing if/when Suffolk Downs closes. Emerald Downs keeps on chugging on in the Pacific Northwest without slots or table games. Canterbury innovates, so even though they have that poker room on the first floor, the track side is great.
Perhaps this will be the kick in Suffolk's hind quarters to try to do something, but I fear it will not be so.
Nah
If Suffolk Downs was smart, they would sell the entire property and turn it into an Assembly Row style complex. Would make great use of the land since its near the airport and a blue line station.
Nothing saying this land will stay empty.. it just won't have an casino on it.
good luck
by the time they get through the permitting and public input process the economy will have tanked again and they won't have financing. By the time we pull out of the next economic downturn that land will be back under water again (literally, not figuratively).
That's too bad.
Would have been great to see a revitalized Suffolk Downs. With a casino and some nice hotels in the area, maybe they could have had a big race, maybe post-Travers.
Group it into the petro
Group it into the petro complex, ethanol tank farm ( by barge , people don't want the rail type) .
Soccer stadium?
Soccer stadium?
Because what we need is
yet another cheezy mall with all the same overpriced chain stores.
Right!
But a cheesy mall with all
But a cheesy mall with all the same overpriced chain stores and slots and gambling tables is so much better?
I'm a fan of the sport too,
I'm a fan of the sport too, but realistic. There will always be Saratoga, and we attend Belmont a few times a year too. I am sorry for the people who worked at Suffolk for years who are out of a job, and there are some very hard workers there who were kept hanging by a thread for months while the casino proposals were played out.It is a sad day for them.
It is all right for people to say "good, they're shutting down" bu how about people who have lost jobs?
In any case I don't believe there will ever be a casino in Massachusetts as long as there is a state lottery. They will push around the proposal but at some point it will fall through.
Emerald Downs does get some slot money
Not directly, but their purses get supplements from the Muckleshoot Indian Trive's casino.
As would Suffolk
The legislation mandated certain revenues for the horse racing industry. So, if Tuttle does what I read the plan is, Plainridge will have some great purses.
You can go down there and
You can go down there and gamble on live horses right now!
Why should taxpayers
Why should taxpayers subsidize horse racing? Suffolk Downs has said that they cannot operate as a horse track because of lack of interest in it, but will stay open if they are granted one of the government limited casino licenses AND some of the taxes collected from casinos across the state are given to them (instead of being used by the state to do all the things that the casino law promised). I get you like to go to the track, but why do I have to pay for that? The way sports teams have bilked government out of subsidies is crazy, but to extend that to subsidizing horse racing is crazy.
You shouldn't pay for it
I'm lamenting the circumstances but I understand and accept why they are what they are.
I agree with the anon also..
I agree with the anon also...while a big fan of the sport; we have attended tracks all over the country and in Europe, taxpayer money should not be used to keep a sport, whether horse racing or the NFL afloat.
Are you suggesting Boston can
Are you suggesting Boston can't be world class without horse racing? /snark
I never considered Boston to be world-class
But it's American-class.
happy hours
and what to do about giving away drinks? If happy hours are illegal across MA. than you can't allow one business an advantage over another by restricting drink specials. And smoking? Are they planning on making the casino entirely non-smoking too?
If the entire casino is non
If the entire casino is non-smoking then and only then would I consider dropping $20 on slots to check it out. However, I'd probably never go back again. If smoking is permitted then I'll never step foot in it. Typically, I find casinos to be depressing places with the exception of Vegas.
A non-smoking casino with no
A non-smoking casino with no complementary drinks? That's not gonna fly. Addicts keep casinos in business, so they're going to have to cater to all of these vices to stay competetive. If you think smokers will choose a casino a few miles away where smoking is banned over driving two hours just to be able to smoke indoors, then you my friend have not met a true smoker. And having to pay for your booze while you're gambling? What is this, Russia?
Naah,.. Massachusetts.
Russia, at this point, would be throwing in hookers.
The thing is cobbled together by the usual absurd alliance between the PC/purity/progressive ditz caucus and the crony loving and craven grifter caucus, which is usually all too eager to handle details that get their cousins jobs.
The ditz caucus may not be all that familiar with the qualities of underworld souls like gambling addicts as they aren't like minded enough and run in different circles.
The grifter caucus is wonderfully familiar with the underworld but does't want to blow the deal by calling attention to these absurdities.
Huh? Sorry, are you okay?
Huh? Sorry, are you okay? Cigarette smoking addicts aren't keeping that RI casino in business. It's losing money and RI taxpayers subsidizing it to keep it afloat. That Trump casino in Atlantic City... are cigarette smoking addicts keeping it in business? Nope. It went out of business. Stop drinking the kool-aid, get your head out of your ass and get real.
kool-aid & ass
I didn't say that allowing smoking will be the deciding factor keeping the joint in business - I think this venture is doomed to fail spectacularly either way. You may not have understood because, as you say, my head was in my ass and i was also drinking kool-aid, which requires concentration, coordination, and definitely affects my intelligibility.
Banning smoking and free drinks will simply hasten the decline, for reasons stated above. No matter what they name the casino, it will be known as "that lame casino in Boston that sucks". For instance, "I want to smoke and don't want to pay for drinks; let's just go to Mohegan instead of that lame casino in Boston that sucks". Or, "Hey, remember that lame casino in Boston that sucked? I hear it's haunted!"
Hahahaha.
Outstanding gotcha response to an odd layup that was aiming to mix gotcha with scolding and a bit of purity.
You handled it like a veteran.
MA casinos are allowed to give away free drinks
The state gave the casinos an exemption from the no free drinks law, so there will be free drinks at Wynn and the other casinos in MA.
Well I'll be damned
So they did, way back in 2011! So the law is now "Serving free alcoholic drinks is illegal OH EXCEPT FOR AT CASINOS". Brazen as fuck.
They really want this thing to fly.
Think of it as a strange political Pousse Cafe with a green layer of Creme de Ditz,
Put the lighter Eau de Grift over that.
Top with a layer of red tinted Avarice and you have a designer cocktail. Just add a dash of disgruntled bitters for an accent.
I'm impressed
Last time I tried to do that I dribbled Man-o-Mangoberry on my tighty whities.
Suffolk - Doomed By Mismanagement
The whole Suffolk Downs casino campaign was a mess and doomed to failure. Poor vision and management is slowly killing the horse racing industry - in Suffolk's case the death will be quick. I wonder if they'll even finish the current racing campaign.
Track operations have been ridiculously poor, staff courtesy totally absent, food quality abysmal, and attempts to attract new racing fans nonexistent. Management can't even coordinate race dates with the only other horse track in the state: just forty miles away, Plainridge Racecourse races on Wednesdays and Saturdays - same days as Suffolk Downs. And by the way, Plainridge was recently awarded the state's first casino license and soon will become the new $225 million Plainridge Park Casino.
I am a racing fan and will miss Suffolk Downs, but we all have to admit that track owners, management, and employees got what they deserved. Sad.
September 29
According to the Herald this morning, the track may close for good after the last of the September 29 races.
Suffolk down, developers champ at bit
Attracting new fans
For a while they did, when Pat Lamberty, Larry Collmus and Christian Teja worked there...there were seminars and handicapping tournaments. Christian Teja was very accesible and listed to what you had to say. Those guys went on to other jobs.
As for staff courtesy, there was the usual mix of pleasant, helpful people and surly people...like the rest of Boston.
Suffolk Downs land parcel
Suffolk Downs land parcel should be developed now, upscale condos with high end Retail/ Restaurants , Eastie also needs a movie theatre .Please do not put a New England Revolution soccer field, Soccer around here does not stimulate the economy. Suffolk Downs land will also be great for Bio industry, or Automobile manufacturing, Toyota or General Motors.or Volkswagon .
Auto manufacturing won't
Auto manufacturing won't happen here again due to environmental concerns and UAW skulduggery. Unless magically Mass becomes a right to work state. I which I will be riding my unicorn to collect a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow following the announcement of world peace and a universal cure for cancer just before the buffet celebrating the end of world hunger.
Right because only if we
..hose the many to let the few loot even more will we ever have any hope of attaining that feudal revival so near and dear to every would be oligarch, plutocrat and overlord now awash in idiot power pipe dreams.
Let me know how Ivanhoe's doing when you next wash his horse faithful Wamba.
A Soccer Stadium
Might be ideal in this location. The place is already a sports venue. The stadium could be more than just a soccer field but also a year round entertainment complex if done right. You're never going to see car manufacturing in this location.
Forget about soccer, It's
Forget about soccer, It's seasonal, it will never happen..
Forget about Suffolk Downs being a sporting venue all together.
1) Either owner sells entire parcel to City of Boston, can be useful for a "low income village" ( an extension to Orient Heights projects)
2) The State can purchase land and build a mega drug rehab facility for East Boston and Revere..
3) Wynn can purchase Suffolk Downs parcel, it will be very useful for Wynn, he will need someplace to dump all that contaminated soil from the Everett location.
Soccer Might Be Seasonal
But that doesn't mean whatever is built there has to be seasonal. An enclosed stadium could also house concerts or other events in the off season. There's enough room there to build multiple entertainment venues including the movie theatre you think Eastie needs. Boston is already overrun with "high end/luxury" condos and apartments. It doesn't need anymore.
Seasonality
Horce racing is seasonal too. This year's Suffolk Downs racing calendar runs from May through September, with 68 days of racing.
The New England Revolution schedule at Gillette Stadium goes from March through October, with 17 home games (and then possible playoffs which could continue into November).
Not so fast
Not when it takes place many miles and over an hour from its fan base in a difficult to reach venue, no.
Put it at the end of the Blue Line and things will likely be different - like they are in the centrally-located stadiums in Portland and Seattle.
Fan base
I'm not sure how much of a fan base there is in the city. The soccer fan base is spread all over with pockets in SE Mass, the Springfield area, Lowell, etc. True, Foxboro is equally inconvenient for almost everybody, and even with the trains, is tough to get to without a car.
I often question people who say they are devoted soccer fans, yet make excuses for not attending games in Foxboro. If you're a true soccer fan, spending an hour to get to a game is nothing. A large proportion of people attending Sox games spend at least an hour getting to the game - doesn't seem to be an issue.
Putting a stadium at the end of the blue line helps city residents get to a game, but makes it a logistical nightmare for a lot of others outside the city, especially those west of the city. Can a team survive just on city fans? Nope. You certainly are not going to fill a stadium regularly.
Back to Suffolk Downs....
Just for location reasons and forgetting about the players behind each site, I was hoping Suffolk Downs was going to be chosen. It just seemed like a good site. The horse racing would continue and have a nicer, improved venue. You could get there from the city on the blue line. It would be a great way to re-purpose the site and revitalize it.
I'm glad someone else is pouring a bunch of money into a casino and not me, though.
But...
Some ppl have lives but not most Sox fans.
I'm not a huge soccer fan but
I'm not a huge soccer fan but I'd probably go to the games occasionally if the tickets were cheap and the stadium was T accessible.
Boston Olympic Village
Natch
Better go see the ponies now
Suffolk Downs will likely be redeveloped.
Just saw Richard Fields of Suffolk Downs
walking into the Four Seasons . Scowling would be a mild word for the look on his face!
Mr Fields ..East Boston
Mr Fields ..East Boston residents need a place to shop, dine, and go to the movies, all at one location! Why should East Boston residents waste gas and time driving to Revere to go see a movie.. Why should East Boston residents waste gas and time driving up route one Saugus to eat at their favorite Chinese or Mexican eatery, or bar, enough is enough, This is Easties only chance one chance to have a Movie theatre, restaurants, retail outlets, ice cream parlor, DeMoulas supermarket!! Whatever,, and maybe a hotel and a World class gym all in one location @Suffolk Downs..Forget about sporting facilities, Concert venues, there is enough to go around in Eastern mass..
Mexican food?
If you live in East Boston, why would you go to Saugus to find Mexican food? There's plenty of it in your own neighborhood.
Do you feel comfortable going
Do you feel comfortable going to an East Boston Mexican place to eat your favorite burito on a friday night, after all the recent nearby maverick shootings and recent string of robberies in the neighborhood..I don't think so.
By that reasoning
With all the car accidents on Rt. 1, do you feel comfortable driving through a dangerous traffic sewer to reach some chain restaurant when you can walk down the street and get the real enchalada?
More people in MA are killed in traffic accidents than bad neighborhood squabbles.
I actually go to East Boston for food now and again - particularly before doing a megashopping at the Market Basket in Chelsea. The lack of generica is most attractive.
Ron bikes to these kinds of places, BTW, and has for years without incident. Maybe he doesn't watch shock TV as much as you do.
Obama needs to deploy 1000
Obama needs to deploy 1000 US Troops on the ground "Boots on the ground" to stop the out of control recent crime wave in East Boston. He is naming this mission "Operation Marty Cohen"
Yes.
I also feel perfectly comfortable going to the Shipyard and Marina (which is having an awesome festival this Saturday), and to Atlantic Works Gallery on Border Street.
Eastie has some of the best
Eastie has some of the best food in Boston, Angelas and Jalisco for mexican, Rincon Limon for Peruvian, Thmor Da for Cambodian, several great italian places.