Suffolk Downs entered the Massachusetts casino sweepstakes dripping with inevitability . It was the bidder that had the backing of Boston’s mayor. It was the track the House speaker used to hang around as a kid. The combination of gerrymandered-looking casino region boundaries and a special exemption from the state casino law’s municipal referendum requirement all but cleared the field for Suffolk.
Now, with just two weeks left before Election Day, The Suffolk Downs casino bid looks as vulnerable as it’s ever been.
East Boston casino opponents staged a show of force yesterday, with local religious leaders likening the casino business to “ravenous wolves.” They rallied in the wake of Friday’s blockbuster news that Caesars Entertainment , the would-be operator of East Boston’s casino, was withdrawing from the Suffolks Downs casino proposal. “It shows you there’s something sinister … about this whole process,” one of the rally’s organizers, Pedro Morales , told the Globe . “It’s not opinion. There’s evidence now, clear evidence, that this deal had something unsavory about it.”
According to multiple reports, Caesars exited the Suffolk casino deal after state investigators raised tough questions about a partner Caesars had a licensing deal with in a Las Vegas casino. The firm in question allegedly has ties to the Russian mob. State gambling officials made no official determination about whether Caesars could be a partner in a Massachusetts casino, but the static over the company’s background check caused Suffolk Downs’s developers to throw Caesars overboard .
The Globe also reports that, in addition to the possible financial relationship with the mob, Massachusetts regulators also raised questions about a $127 million gambling binge — allegedly fueled by alcohol and pills — that occurred in Caesars-operated Las Vegas casinos in 2007. New Jersey gambling regulators fined Caesars $225,000 for failing to stop that binge earlier this year.
Earlier, Massachusetts regulators disqualified the owners of the Plainridge Racecourse from bidding, after discovering that the track’s former boss had been routinely withdrawing cash from the facility’s money room. Steve Wynn , who’s eyeing a casino in Everett , appears concerned that his Macau operations — the subject of civil lawsuits and federal investigations , but no formal complaints — could cause him headaches with local regulators.
Caesars CEO Gary Loveman shot his way out of his home state, telling Bloomberg Businessweek, “It’s going to be very hard for anyone to pass” the Massachusetts Gaming Commission’s background checks. He added to the Globe , “It’s going to be very difficult for sophisticated, multi-jurisdictional operators to tolerate the environment this commission has created.” But Loveman’s statements are belied by the fact that several would-be gaming operators, including Raynham Park , Mohegan Sun , the Cordish Companies , and Penn National , have already passed the same background check that Loveman’s firm stumbled over.
Loveman’s former dance partners at Suffolk Downs are now left scrambling to find a new operating partner, two weeks ahead of their November 5 referendum date. “Now they have to find a new operator of the casino and they have to do it in record time,” Mayor Tom Menino told WBUR yesterday. Suffolk COO Chip Tuttle added, “The Massachusetts Gaming Commission is clearly setting rigorous standards here, we have no problem with that. We have always been ready to meet those standards and earn a license.”
Still, Tuttle’s firm is left with a major perception problem. If it can’t find a new casino operator in the next two weeks, Suffolk will be asking voters to approve a gambling facility without knowing who will be running it. And if they can sign up a new partner over the next several days, Suffolk will be peppered with complaints from casino opponents that, given the way Caesars unraveled, the neighborhood needs more than a few days to vet the new team. In today’s Herald , John Nucci argues that November’s East Boston casino referendum has been rendered “meaningless,” and that there’s “nobody in the driver’s seat of this careening chariot, and the vote is right around the corner.” As Loveman himself said last year , in happier times: “This is not something for the faint-hearted.”
–PAUL MCMORROW
BEACON HILL
A bill to increase penalties for animal abuse, triggered in part by the recent “Puppy Doe” case, would set up a registry for convicted animal abusers and require shelters, breeders and pet stores to check with the registry before giving anyone a pet.
MUNICIPAL MATTERS
Boston city officials say approval of an arbitrator’s award to the police patrol officers’ union could imperil a program that targets crime in the most troubled city neighborhoods.
Meanwhile, Telegram & Gazette columnist Clive McFarlane says buying an expensive gunshot detection system in Worcester isn’t what the community needs.
Fall River city councilors are upset with Mayor Will Flanagan after the EPA issued a report citing at least four violations at the city’s water department’s filtration plant.
CASINOS
The MetroWest Daily News advises voters to think long and hard about the pros and cons of siting a casino in Milford .
The Massachusetts Gaming Commission’s director of research and problem gaming goes to New Hampshire to appear before a legislative panel charged with recommending regulations for possible casinos.
NATIONAL POLITICS/WASHINGTON
Good luck with that: Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell says there will be no more government shutdowns . Be careful what you wish for: Republicans may lose the House if they play for another shutdown next year . Herald columnist Kimberly Atkins compares the Tea Party to a flesh-eating bacteria.
Republicans seek a middle ground on gay rights.
It’s unclear whether the federal government will meet its target of 7 million applications in six months, but so far 476,000 applications for Obamacare have been filed.
In an editorial, the Richmond Times-Dispatch explains why it wouldn’t endorse any of the candidates running for governor in Virginia.
Gay couples start getting married in New Jersey, with Senator-elect and Newark Mayor Cory Booker officiating at many of the first ceremonites, NJ.com reports . The ceremonies went off with a minimal amount of heckling .
ELECTIONS
The Boston mayoral candidates keep scrambling for endorsements — even though the benefits of such backing are unclear. US Rep. Michael Capuano throws in with Marty Walsh .
Maura Healey , a top aide to Attorney General Martha Coakley, jumps into the race to replace her boss, the Associated Press reports (via WBUR).
BUSINESS/ECONOMY
Lynn officials urge a developer not to put a Dollar Store on Andrew Street, the Item reports .
Donations to the 400 largest charities in the country grew by just 4 percent last year and forecasts for this year project a decrease of 1 percent.
An Illinois court strikes down a state law requiring Internet retailers to pay sales tax, increasing the chances that the US Supreme Court will weigh in on the issue, Governing reports .
Diners flock to the Hilltop Steak House in Saugus on the last night before it closes, the Item reports .
JP Morgan will pay $13 billion to settle some claims related to housing bubble-era mortgage bonds. The Wall Street Journal editorial page is not pleased .
EDUCATION
MetroWest school districts grapple with the possible uses and abuses of social media.
HEALTH CARE
More parents are failing to vaccinate their kids, and the problem is particularly acute on the Cape .
As part of its ongoing series on Lyme disease, the Globe looks into the unregulated world of Lyme disease testing.
ENERGY/ENVIRONMENT
Opponents of two town-owned wind turbines in Falmouth got a boost when a Superior Court judge ruled they had a “likelihood of success” in their legal battle to shut down the turbines.
MEDIA
The Beat the Press panel revisits their discussion on the controversy over billionaire conservative financier David Koch ’s presence on the WGBH board of trustees and determines they were right in the first place to defend his inclusion despite the criticism they received.
Quality news is suddenly attractive to tech entrepreneurs, the New York Times reports .
Mike Tyson pens an essay about his Brooklyn youth for New York magazine.