Springfield voters have approved a casino plan for the Springfield area. Tony Terzi has more.
SPRINGFIELD ? Voters on Tuesday handily approved a proposal by MGM Resorts International to build an $800 million casino in the city's south end.
The referendum on the casino was approved, 57 to 43 percent, with 13,973 voting yes and 10,260 voting no.
MGM's victory sets up a battle between three casino operators, including Connecticut's Mohegan Sun, for the lone state license to operate a casino resort in Western Massachusetts ? either in Springfield, Palmer or West Springfield. It also portends serious competition for Connecticut's gambling resorts.
Well-heeled gambling names from Connecticut, Las Vegas and elsewhere are campaigning to get one of the limited number of state licenses. State legislation signed into law in November 2011 allows for one resort casino in each of three regions: Western Massachusetts, Boston and the southeastern part of the state. The state will also allow a single license for a slot machine venue anywhere in the state.
Casino supporters gathered at a party Tuesday night at the Lyman & Merrie Wood Museum of Springfield History.
"People are excited about what this could bring," MGM Resorts International President Bill Hornbuckle said.
Now the strategy is to prove to the Massachusetts Gaming Commission that MGM's plans are better than those of its competitors, he said.
MGM chairman and CEO James J. Murren, who grew up in Fairfield, recalled his days at Trinity College. He went to a Kinks concert in Springfield in the early 1980s and mentioned Led Zeppelin and Grateful Dead concerts there.
"This was an epicenter of entertainment," Murren said. But Connecticut casinos siphoned off the entertainment, and that's about to change, he said.
"I'm not in the gaming business," Murren said. "I'm in the resort business."
During a scorching day when temperatures soared to the high 90s, protesters showed their opposition to the plan outside some of the 64 voting precincts.
About 24 members of the Western Massachusetts Hispanic Coalition gathered on Main Street to protest. The coalition includes several churches in the city's north end.
"We have a lot of problems. We don't want more problems," the Rev. Raul Medina of Primera Iglesia Cristiana Misionera said.
His son, also Raul Medina, said that children should not be exposed to gambling's social costs. "They shouldn't have to suffer their parents' negligence," the younger Medina said.
The group held signs as cars passed by on Main Street; some honked and one man yelled support by saying "Vote 'no'."
"They do a good job talking about the pros of the casino. A lot of people don't know about the cons," Isaiah Delmoral said.
Elliott Stratton waved to traffic passing by Duggan Middle School early Tuesday evening. Wearing a T-shirt that said, "No dice, Springfield," the 70-year-old lifelong resident said he is against the casino proposal for moral reasons. He also doesn't think it will provide the economic salvation that supporters say it will.
"The poor are going to be just devastated by this," he said, referring to financial and social problems associated with gambling. Stratton said he has seen people in Springfield suffering from economic challenges during a career as a juvenile probation officer. "I think we should build on positive things," he said.
Supporters of MGM's plans point to the hundreds of millions of dollars that would be invested ? 2,000 construction jobs and 3,000 permanent jobs ? if it is approved by the state Gaming Commission.
Hashmat Khan, 70, and his family opened Springfield Pizza and Fried Chicken in hopes that MGM's plans will come to fruition. The pizzeria is a block and a half from the site, and more than two years of construction would bring in a lot of hungry contractors.
"Till now, it is very slow," Khan said.
If MGM is issued a state license to operate, the casino owners estimate it would take 26 to 27 months to build the casino, targeting an opening in mid-2016.
Dec. 31 is the state deadline for casino applications to build in the Boston and Western Massachusetts regions; the deadline for southeastern Massachusetts is about six months later. The Massachusetts Gaming Commission will name the winning casinos in March or April, Elaine Driscoll, the commission's spokeswoman, said Monday.
In Western Massachusetts, three gambling companies are competing for a license: MGM in Springfield, Mohegan Sun in Palmer and Hard Rock International in West Springfield.
Before the Massachusetts Gaming Commission picks a winner for Western Massachusetts, each casino developer has to have a "host community agreement" in hand and a vote of support by residents, among other requirements.
Hard Rock officials signed an agreement with West Springfield officials on July 11, according to The Republican newspaper in Springfield. Mohegan Sun hopes to have an agreement with officials in Palmer this month and a vote in September.
Source: http://www.courant.com/business/hc-casino-springfield-vote-mgm-20130716,0,3678189.story
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