The lie$ are co$tly:
"Revenue projection for Suffolk Downs disputed" by Mark Arsenault | Globe Staff, September 19, 2013
Suffolk Downs would have to generate more gambling revenue than any other casino in the country — the Western Hemisphere even — to reach the $1 billion per year mark Boston leaders are counting on under profit-sharing agreements, according to industry experts and a Boston Globe analysis.
Oh, we aren't going to get the the pot pay out we thought?
The proposed 4,000 to 5,000 slots at a Caesars casino at Suffolk Downs would each have to average $400 to $500 in gambling revenue every day to generate the amount the city is expecting, under an industry formula for measuring slot performance. That would be an astronomical rate of profit, surpassing the US slot king, Resorts World in New York City....
That's the way problem gamblers think. Gonna hit it big! Government is the worst money addict around.
Oh, btw, we have no money to gamble away out here. There is no hidden pot of gold out here, a$$holes. You already stole anything.
Of course, the casinos are also playgrounds and disposable cash outlets for the fabulously wealthy who are the only ones who benefited from the alleged recovery.
“I’m having trouble getting to one billion,” said David G. Schwartz, the UNLV center’s director. He said his own calculations suggest annual gambling revenue in Boston would be $600 million to $700 million, which would still be impressive for a single property.
C'mon, hit me!
Potential gambling profits at Suffolk Downs are important because the fortunes of the resort’s two host communities, Boston and Revere, are intricately tied to the casino’s annual gross gambling revenue, which is essentially the money customers lose in a year. If the casino did not earn $1 billion, then the two host communities would not fully realize the payouts they had hoped to collect under agreements signed with the developer.
What?
Veteran casino executive and consultant Saverio R. Scheri, president & chief executive at WhiteSand Gaming, broke out in a chuckle at the $1 billion projection for Suffolk Downs.
“Really? Really?” he said. “Caesars thinks they can do a billion dollars a year? Well. Hmm.” He paused. “If you look at some of the revenues from 2005, ‘06, ‘07, you can find a few individual properties generating those kinds of revenues. Today? Not happening.”
I fail to see the humor. Casinos were big before the housing and financial crash, huh?
For comparison, at Foxwoods Resort Casino — a $3 billion complex three times bigger than what is proposed in East Boston — total gambling revenue last fiscal year was an estimated $800 million. For Mohegan Sun, which claims to be the largest casino in the hemisphere based on gross gambling revenue, the estimate was a little north of $900 million.
A consultant hired by the city of Boston and Ernst & Young, wrote that gambling revenue for Suffolk Downs “will likely fall below the Connecticut tribal casinos due to the smaller scale of the subject property.”
Then we aren't getting the promised pay out!
Despite that, the city of Boston, Casears, and Suffolk Downs stand by the $1 billion estimate. “Our projections are consistent with experts that the Legislature has relied on as well as other studies,” said Chip Tuttle, Suffolk Downs’ chief operating officer. “It’s a market that can produce $1 billion” in gross gaming revenue.
And there are some analysts who agree.
“The concentration of population in and around the area is pretty incredible,” said Jeremy Aguero, a principal analyst with Applied Analysis who studies the industry. “A property of the size and magnitude that has been discussed could approach $1 billion per year.”
Anything "could approach."
Fitch Ratings senior director Michael Paladino, who studies the casino industry, said $1 billion is “not out of the realm of possibility” for Boston.
But it's not likely, either.
“The fact that it’s one casino in an urban area, where the other cities like New York and Philadelphia have multiple casinos, it’s possible,” he said. “But it has to be considered in the context of other options opening up not that far away,” including as many as three other gambling facilities within the state and potential casino expansion in New Hampshire.
I'm tired of seeing but, still, and other colorful qualifiers that my college instructors told me were bad words for a report.
Under Boston’s deal with the developer, Suffolk Downs promises to pay the city $32 million a year, plus an escalating share of gambling profits that kick in when the casino reaches $810 million in gross gambling revenue.
The city has touted the agreement as a $52 million annual benefit, which is the amount Boston would receive if the resort reached $1 billion in gambling revenue.
Another one of those words.
Revere’s deal with Suffolk Downs would ultimately guarantee a minimum annual payment of $9 million a year and would be worth $15 million a year if the casino hit $1 billion. The deal specifically says both sides agree that gross gambling revenue “is anticipated to be approximately $1 billion.”
Suffolk Downs is in a fierce competition for the sole Greater Boston resort casino license with Wynn Resorts, which is planning a casino on the Mystic River waterfront in Everett, and with a Foxwoods project in suburban Milford. Everett voters in June endorsed Wynn’s plan at a referendum. East Boston and Revere are expected to vote Nov. 5 on Suffolk Downs. Milford votes Nov. 19.
The state gambling commission is expected to choose the winning proposal early next year, and could potentially weigh as part of its calculations how much the host communities would benefit from the project....
That is when I folded!
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Related: Suffolk Downs casino would give Boston $32m yearly
