CasinoWatch

Mass. gamblers spend $177 million yearly in Rhode Island casinos; Online poker saved

One-fifth of Mass. gamblers’ outlay spent on R.I. slots


The study found that the renovated Twin River attracted $177 million from Bay State gamblers last year Despite a slowing economy and rising gas prices, Massachusetts residents last year spent more than $1 billion for the fifth year in a row at Connecticut and Rhode Island gambling sites, and about one-fifth of the spending went to Rhode Island’s slot parlors, according to a new study by the Center for Policy Analysis at the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth.

The Bay State gamblers last year dropped $195 million at Twin River in Lincoln and Newport Grand in Newport. Massachusetts residents also spent $846 million at Foxwoods and the Mohegan Sun in Connecticut.  The study found that the renovated Twin River attracted $177 million from Bay State gamblers last year, up $32 million from 2006. About 42 percent of Twin River’s gambling base comes from Massachusetts, the study found...

Meanwhile, at Mohegan Sun and Foxwoods
In Connecticut, Foxwoods is planning the opening of its $700-million MGM Grand hotel and complex in May, and Mohegan Sun is in the midst of a $750-million expansion.

At Twin River, the company that owns the slots parlor has until Friday to work out its financial problems with its lenders. UTGR Inc., which owns Twin River, missed a loan payment earlier this month, prompting negotiations with its lenders and collection efforts by contractors that worked on the building’s $225-million reconstruction... Meanwhile, the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs will be in Middleboro, Mass., today to hold a public hearing on the plans of the Mashpee Wampanoag Indian tribe to build a gambling facility on 540 acres about 20 miles from Rhode Island’s border... Providence Journal.  
_____

How Massachusetts Came Close to Banning Online Poker

Music To Lose Money By
What is it with gambling emporiums and their penchant for ruining rock songs? Last year Rhode Island's Twin River casino used "Take Me To The River" to promote their "entertainment" complex. The singer in the ad has the nads to rip off the vocal inflections used by David Byrne in the classic Talking Heads recording. Now Connecticut's Mohegan Sun has grabbed hold of Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Sweet Home Alabama" for their latest ad campaign.
   Now I know that bad taste and casinos go hand in hand, but the hatchet job done on "Sweet Home Alabama" is a true disgrace. That song has a legendary place in rock history. It was Skynyrd singer Ronnie Van Zant's "answer" song to Neil Young's "Southern Man." It was about racism and civil rights -- Old South and New South -- regional pride and regional bias. Important stuff. Heck the Drive-By Truckers devoted a whole double CD to the issues in their epic "Southern Rock Opera." This is not stuff to be trifled with, and that's exactly what Mohegan Sun has done.
   At least Twin River chose not to mess with the lyrics of their rip off (just the hack vocalist singing take me to the river in clipped bursts)...  Gather.com  Indeed, the Massachusetts House voted 106-48 last Thursday against Governor Deval Patrick's Casino Bill that includes a section to criminalize playing online poker or gambling on the Internet, and to fine violators up to $25,000 or a two year sentence.

But the vote could easily have gone the other way, had the governor's office reached out to key interest groups earlier and lined up their support.

Missed key casino supporters - the Mashpee Wampnoag Indians
First, the Mashpee Wampanoag Indian tribe proposed an agreement last month that would have assured the tribe a casino in Middleborough in exchange for the tribe's support of Patrick's legislation.

The Mashpee Indians were willing to support Patrick's bill for 2 other casinos, if in turn Patrick would support the tribe's plan to open a casino in Middleborough under the federal Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, and assure the tribe they would have no competition from other casinos in the southeastern part of the state.

However, "an administration official said Friday that with the casino legislation uncertain, they were reluctant to cut a quick deal with the tribe that they may have protracted negotiations with over the next couple of years," according to the Boston Globe...  PokerPages.