I fold.
"Milford will see plan for casino; Developer is partner of gaming company" by Lisa Kocian, Globe Staff | October 17, 2009
A real estate developer who hopes to build a resort-style casino in Massachusetts said he has an option to buy more than 200 acres of land along Interstate 495 in Milford and has lined up a partner.
Developer David H. Nunes said he and his partners, Las Vegas-based Warner Gaming, will make a presentation to the Milford Board of Selectmen Monday night that will include a site plan and “conceptual ideas’’ for the property.
As a sign he is stepping up his effort to build the casino, Nunes was at the State House Thursday meeting with legislators who represent Milford and surrounding towns, he said. He said he wanted to address questions about “traffic and other concerns’’ among lawmakers.
“Massachusetts, if one were to look at the state as a whole and look at how successful the lottery has been, you have a propensity among the residents to enjoy this form of entertainment,’’ Nunes said in a phone interview yesterday.
The type of casino Nunes is proposing, something like a Foxwoods or Mohegan Sun, is facing perhaps the most favorable political climate ever from the state’s political leadership. But there is some fierce opposition around the state.
Last month, for the first time, House Speaker Robert A. DeLeo announced his support for allowing resort-style casinos in Massachusetts. Previously he had supported only slot machines at racetracks. Governor Deval Patrick and Senate President Therese Murray also support large casinos as a way to create jobs and capture tax revenue that casino backers say is leaving the state and going to Connecticut resorts. Patrick’s proposal to license three resort casinos was defeated last year, largely because of opposition by Salvatore F. DiMasi, DeLeo’s predecessor....
And now he is gone, so where is that opposition, Glob?
Nunes would face significant competition from other developers looking to cash in on expanded gambling in Massachusetts. Mohegan Sun of Connecticut has looked into building a casino in Palmer, a small town in Central Massachusetts.
See: The Palmer Protests
Suffolk Downs in East Boston and Wonderland Greyhound Park in Revere have been working together to possibly launch a Boston-area casino.
Related: Wonderland Loses Its Luster
Nunes’s partner, Warner Gaming of Las Vegas, declined to comment and referred a Globe reporter to Nunes. According to its website, Warner Gaming has “obtained public and private financing for the acquisition or development of 18 casinos’’ and has operated casinos in the Las Vegas area and elsewhere. In Milford, town officials sound open to the possibility of welcoming a casino....
Anticasino activist Kathleen Conley Norbut said her message to Milford is “beware.’’
She is the president of United to Stop Slots in Massachusetts, which she described as a statewide, nonpartisan coalition. Norbut said a large casino does not provide good jobs for local residents, because such an operation attracts low-wage earners from elsewhere.
Possibly illegals?
Problem gamblers and addicted gamblers are very costly to taxpayers, who have to absorb their social, legal, and medical expenses, she said.
“What is a particular concern is this is a short-term fix,’’ said Norbut, a former selectman in Monson. “It will be offset by long-term negative economic impacts to municipalities and to taxpayers.’’
Sort of like a gambler's high, huh?
