CASINO VOTES: 'Yes' in NY; 'No' in MA
 

Crushing setback for Suffolk Downs: http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/201...LiI/story.html

Expanded gaming in NY: http://www.timesunion.com/local/arti...re-4959066.php

Is this a good or bad thing for NYRA?

My state is just ridiculous. Suffolk basically lost this vote because their partner, Caesar's Palace, couldn't survive a background check by the state gaming commission. This forced Suffolk to go it alone in the final weeks leading up to the referendum and ultimately fail.

This will surely mean the end of racing in New England.

Paul

A lot of businesses would fail without subsidies, its now the American way!

I'm a gambling proponent but having spent lots of time at Suffolk I will be the first to say that between the tunnel traffic and the airport traffic it is no surprise that Eastie voted against casino traffic.
If it were me I would close the place down and open a new top of the line racing facility and casino in someplace like New Bedford. Or do the same at the Rock but that might not fly because the NH Gov is against gambling.

Paul - I agree with much of what you say. I am disappointed about the result - however, I don't think it was just the going alone for Suffolk. The East Boston NO to Casino vote was in full swing well before the back ground check debacle. Will be interested to see if they are able to pull off having the casino located solely on the Revere side of the track as Revere overwhelmingly approved this....

P.S. Hope you are well!!

I believe this is very bad for NYRA. I maybe wrong but I think the contract they have says they get a certain percentage of "VLT" revenue. This will eliminate VLT's ending the payments to NYRA. Not sure if it is that simple but it is something like that.

so sad for NE, rockingham, northhampton, great barrington, marshfield, green mountain, brockton and now this. Lots of good memories

You are more likely to see this in fantasy land than anywhere in my state. Racing is dead in New England. It is just a matter of time.

Paul

ahem....its now 2013. What tunnel traffic ? There is none. The big dig worked. when you leave suffolk you're home in 15 minutes unless you're a half hour away, in which case it's 20 minutes.
A racing facility in New Beige ? next joke, not sure portuguese fishing towns 90 minutes from Boston are the location for a racing facility.
Amazingly enough a casino didn't pass in East Boston (home of the degenerate gambler) where everybody bets.
They promised everyone a job. It was supposed to be a shoo-in. What guys like me found out was that it wasn't like the old days when East Boston was all Italian and everyone wanted to work. Apparently the new citizens don't follow "The Lord loves a workin man creed" so now it's 4000 jobs down the drain. No more hoss racing. Mr. James Mosely (A Phenomenon ) would be very disappointed after all he did to revive racing in Mass. I'm flabergasted

New Bedford is one of the proposed sites....Most casino's these days aren't in major cities so the location is no problem. I haven't lived in the area for a while but saw lots of news reports about Eastie not wanting the traffic so I believed them.
4000 jobs? Isn't it easier for these people to just gets checks from the big O than have to work.

Dino, It's East Boston, Eastie is the high school.
It's not like southie where southie is southie and it's all the same. a bah on every cornah and 2 in the middle of the block. We're not dead yet though. Marty Walsh who just got elected mayor is a union guy. He's not gonna let those union builders miss out on this action. They'll figure out a deal and get it done. Surprised Menino (a Saratoga regular ) wasn't more on top of this. 5 years ago he would have been.

New life for Suffolk casino plan
 

After East Boston voted no and Revere voted yes Nov. 5 on an earlier casino plan, the Massachusetts Gaming Commission by a 5-0 vote yesterday agreed to let Mohegan Sun and Suffolk Downs submit an application by Dec. 31 for a new casino in a new location with new owners – so long as it also agrees to put it to a new citywide vote in Revere sometime in February or March.

http://www.necn.com/12/10/13/New-lif...5&feedID=11106