Gaming Commission – Page 2 – Everett Leader Herald

Globe wants casino at any price; Herald wants the license denied

By Josh Resnek

The debate rages on about what is going to happen as the decision presumably comes closer everyday as to whether or not the Encore Casino owned by Wynn Resorts will receive a license from the Massachusetts Gaming Commission.

The MGC has given no indication when or how it is going to rule.

Here in Everett, this coming MGC decision is the vote of a lifetime for the city.

Everett awaits the outcome with baited breath as everything about the city’s immediate financial future hangs on the vote made by the MGC.

The mayor is believed to have cancelled his annual state of the city address until the vote is decided. After all, the state of the city depends almost entirely on Wynn Resorts getting a gaming license.

The mayor is said to be extremely jittery and nervous about the outcome of the MGC’s deliberations.

“He could not get himself to address the city without knowing about the outcome of the vote first,” said a source close to the mayor.

“Can you imagine him speaking about the state of the city without knowing what the MGC is going decide?” added the source.

Continue reading Globe wants casino at any price; Herald wants the license denied

Encore Needs $1.2 billion to Cut the Mustard

By Josh Resnek

Industry sources have revealed that Encore Boston will need approximately $1.2 billion in income during a given year to allow for the profits it is planning to make after the doors open in June.

Also, based on other numbers we are reporting in this edition, the $1.2 billion number appears very low. If MGM Springfield can take in revenues of more than $1.3 billion since August -9 months- then the Encore set-up should go way beyond that figure.

Why? Because the hotel is a five star operation, the only one in Boston.

The casino itself dwarfs the Springfield operation and is located in Greater Boston, a far more attractive revenue generating position to be located in.

Continue reading Encore Needs $1.2 billion to Cut the Mustard

Now We All Wait

The three days of Massachusetts Gaming Commission hearings are over.

Now we all await the decision.

Will the Encore Casino and Hotel receive its license to operate or will it not?

Will it receive the license free clear? Will it be denied the license? Will it be fined a huge sum of money and put on probation?

It is impossible to predict with any certainty exactly what the Gaming Commission is thinking.

We know this: time is of the essence.

What the MGC does it must do expeditiously, that is to say, it needs to make its finding public sooner rather than later.

With the a scheduled June 23 opening looming, nothing, we repeat, nothing, is more important than the casino opening in a timely fashion.

Continue reading Now We All Wait

— Eye on Everett —

An Excruciating Wait

By Josh Resnek

Kickback Carlo is uptight.

He wants the casino to open on June 23.

This is a big moment in his life – perhaps the biggest.

A casino opening in a place like Everett is a once in lifetime thing. The largely irresponsible mayor is responsible for bringing the casino here. He brought Steve Wynn to the city.

That is on his shoulders.

Steve Wynn’s excesses are a bit like the mayor’s.

They are a past history that won’t go away, that impacts everything they do.

The mayor is uptight.

We are all a bit uptight.

Whether you are opposed to casino gambling or welcome it, the wait right now to see what exactly happens is excruciating.

Much is at stake.

The city’s financial well being, and the social and political effect of the casino coming is another gaggle to deal with.

Right now, the June 23 opening is hanging in the balance. It rests upon what the Massachusetts Gaming Commission decides. For Kickback, this is a time to sweat just a bit, to worry, to fret about…the license, the suitability of Encore, which the GMC is now weighing and measuring.

It is in a way, a measuring of himself, of what he has brought to the city.

A loss is his. A victory is his. Anything halfway he owns.

Last week was a gaggle for Kickback, for the Encore and Wynn officials, for everyone involved in the proceedings.

The proceedings didn’t go the way Wynn Resorts wanted it to go.

Matt Maddox came off as someone who knew nothing about anything – even though he led the company for the past 12 years and had worked for 20 years for Steve Wynn.

Continue reading — Eye on Everett —

Concealed

Gaming Commission Hearings into Suitability for Encore begins

By Josh Resnek

M a s s a c h u s e t t s g a m i n g commissioners have begun the arduous courtroom like task of considering Wynn Resorts suitability to hold the casino license for the Boston area.

Those hearings began Tuesday and will be continuing until Thursday.

The outcome of these hearings is of gargantuan importance to the City of Everett and to everyone in a position of responsibility, starting with the mayor.

It is the mayor who brought Steve Wynn to Everett. The question of suitability, and more than that, of what was concealed during the vetting process comes less than three months before Wynn is set to open its $2.5 billion Encore Boston Harbor casino complex in Everett.

It is more than a year after Wynn founder and former CEO Steve Wynn resigned amid sexual misconduct allegations. One case led to a $7.5 million settlement.

The big question – what if the commission strips Wynn Resorts of its gaming license? Continue reading Concealed