| Things aren’t looking so hot right now for Suffolk Downs and its dreams of hitting the casino jackpot, what with Las Vegas tycoon Steve Wynn hogging the spotlight with a rival bid and its top backer, Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino, headed for retirement.
Yet appearances can be deceiving.
If I was a betting man, I’d still be putting my money on Suffolk eventually getting a green light to turn its East Boston acreage into a major gambling destination, even if Wynn manages to snag the coveted Boston-area casino license.
Yes, when Beacon Hill finally passed casino legislation in 2011 after literally decades of debate, lawmakers gave a green light to just one Boston-area casino and a total of three spread across the state
But anybody who truly believes that Massachusetts will legalize just three casinos and stop at that – and just one for the Boston area – really needs to get out more and see what’s happening in other states.
Whether it’s Maryland, New Jersey or Illinois, no one ever legalizes a few casinos and stops at that.
And given this pattern, a Suffolk gambling complex is all but inevitable – even if that means two Boston-area mega-casinos, not one.
After all, Suffolk’s backers include House Speaker Robert DeLeo, who has been pushing for a casino at the track for years now, as well as some of the state’s most politically savvy business leaders.
Wynn Stealing The Show
Not so long ago, Suffolk looked like it was galloping away with the Boston-area license.
The track had it all; the backing of Menino, powerful and savvy business investors like concessions king Joseph O’Donnell, a local boy, and New York casino developer Richard Fields, not to mention a deal with Caesars Entertainment.
For his part, Wynn stumbled badly in his initial foray into the state last year, looking out of his element in small-town New England as he tried to convince residents of relatively upscale Foxborough to buy into his mega-casino proposal. Instead, he practically got run out of town, his partnership with Robert Kraft backfiring, and the backslapping by the two self-satisfied billionaires looking arrogant and out of touch.
But just when everyone was ready to write off Wynn and coronate Suffolk, the casino tycoon turned the tables on the Boston track.
He reemerged late last year just a few miles down the road from Suffolk in Everett, quickly winning over the mayor of the beaten-down industrial city with a bold plan to remake an old chemical plant on the Mystic River into a $1.2 billion high-rise hotel and casino complex.
Since then, it has been all Wynn all the time, as he has unveiled renderings, won a local referendum by a landslide and charmed the locals.
Upping the stakes, Wynn has already announced tens of millions in taxes and mitigation payments to Everett.
By contrast, Suffolk has gone silent, stuck in endless negotiations with Menino over a multimillion-dollar tax and payment package for Boston.
There’s no referendum scheduled yet and little buzz about Suffolk’s plans.
At the least, Wynn will give Suffolk a run for its money. And, who knows, he may very well walk away with the grand prize: the Boston-area casino license.
On one key front, economic development, Wynn’s proposal looks more compelling than Suffolk’s.
Wynn’s mega-casino has the power to transform hard-hit Everett, where developers aren’t exactly banging down the door.
By contrast, the Suffolk casino proposal is just one of many big mega-building plans in Boston, which has no shortage of developers and investors looking to do business.
Suffolk’s Trump Card
Menino will head off into retirement early next year, but Suffolk still retains a potential trump card in the support of DeLeo.
Suffolk is not only in the Democrat’s home district, the track is in his blood, with his father having worked there for years as a maître d’.
DeLeo has been pushing for slots and casinos for very long time now – literally years. And he has made no secret of his desire to see Suffolk rewarded with a license to offer either slot machines or full-scale casino gambling.
The House chief won’t get far pressuring the new Massachusetts Gaming Commission, chaired by a key ally of Gov. Deval Patrick, the straight-shooting, no-nonsense Steve Crosby.
But don’t think for a moment that DeLeo will call it a day should Wynn get the license, with the gaming commission set to make a decision early next year.
After the smoke clears, DeLeo and other Suffolk supporters in the Legislature will surely be back, probably looking for slots as a bridge to an eventual casino.
The track itself, which has been struggling to stay afloat, may very well engage in dramatics, threatening to close and talking up its financial plight.
Yes, this is speculation, my speculation – no secret sources are whispering in my ear. But it’s hardly wild speculation given DeLeo is a power player on Beacon Hill and Suffolk is a very influential constituent.
The fact is, Massachusetts has just begun to expand gambling, with the three licenses laid out in the 2011 casino law just the first batch, whatever anyone says.
There are few, if any states. that have embraced slot machines and casinos that didn’t keep on expanding, whatever the initial promises were.
Budgets are tight and states need money; it’s as simple as that.
Maryland voters approved a series of slot parlors in 2008 and have since legalized table games to create full-scale casinos. Voters have also given a green light to an additional casino as well, a mega resort planned for a site near Washington, D.C.
Illinois is perpetually adding slot machines and new casinos or debating it, while New York state, which already has giant slot palaces, is just a referendum away from legalizing a series of full-scale, Las Vegas-style casinos in Upstate counties.
We like to think we are different, even special, here in Massachusetts. But when it comes to the relentless expansion of gambling, we are no different from anyone else.
And one way or another, a slot or a casino is in the cards for Suffolk, whether now or a few more years down the road.
You can bet on it.
Scott Van Voorhis can be reached at sbvanvoorhis@hotmail.com.
