This neck and neck finish at Suffolk Downs Boston-area racetrack is symbolic of how their casino vote is unfolding. (Image source: Boston World)
These days: can the Red Sox win their third World Series title in 10 years in the city of Boston, there’s just one issue keeping city residents up at night? But while David Ortiz therefore the remaining portion of the Sox are busy battling the St. Louis Cardinals for baseball bragging liberties, there’s another battle brewing under the surface plus it might be just as contentious as the obstruction ruling that ended Game 3.
Bugles Playing ‘First Call’
Both supporters and opponents regarding the plan to develop a casino in East Boston are ramping up their efforts to get the vote out in the ultimate times before the November 5th election, as both sides are anticipating a close race that could come down to voter turnout. The casino, which will be placed at Suffolk Downs, is a hotly debated issue in churches, on road corners, and also among applicants for mayor.
Anti-casino forces feel like they’re seeing some potential for a change by means of the vote though that could be either good or negative. The exit of Caesars Entertainment as being a partner for Suffolk Downs in the casino bid recently has tossed the battle into chaos, they want to support the plan as it has confused voters over whether or not.
That confusion has shown up in the polling of an company referred to as close Friends of East Boston, which opposes the casino project. According to lead organizer Pedro Morales, the group does phone polling of 1,200 to 1,500 East Boston residents every day. Prior to the news about Caesars departure from the project, about ten percent of residents were still undecided about whether or not to support the Suffolk Downs bid. Now, that number is in the array of 22 percent to 24 percent every day.
‘Last night, one precinct went from 22 percent to 37 percent,’ Morales told the Boston Herald. ‘I’m perhaps not saying at all that that’s automatically to our benefit. They could effortlessly say they truly are waiting to see whom the brand new partner is. The least that may be said is that doubt has definitely been introduced.’
Neck and Neck Towards the Finish Line
According to Morales, their polling indicates that about 40 percent are for the casino bid, with another 40 percent opposing it. Suffolk Downs says that they don’t see exactly the same numbers, and they believe undecided voters could be won over by hearing the details of their proposal.
But aside from the exact numbers they have, both edges clearly feel the problem wasn’t decided yet and this means lots of efforts to get voters on their respective sides within the final days before the election.
‘we are doing a bit of door-to-door canvassing, we’re offering rides to the polls and we have been ID’ing supports along the way,’ said Suffolk Downs COO Chip Tuttle. According to Tuttle, hundreds of volunteer casino supporters will likely be canvassing on their behalf within the last week before Election Day, planning to go to a large number of voters and promote the virtues of this casino want to them.
Opponents associated with the casino bid won’t be sitting on their hands, either. They’ve set up a base camp at a neighborhood church, where leaders that are religious other people into the community will work together to oppose the efforts of Suffolk Downs.
‘It’s really, really simple,’ Morales said. ‘If you love your community, your loved ones, your churches, the casino can’t be good for you personally.’
Brand New York Casino Expansion Could Prompt North Jersey Casino
If voters give a thumbs up to New York State casino expansion, will North Jersey be next to build? (Image source: WCBS 880)
The battle for the northeastern casino market has turned into an arms race between the states in a lot of ways. And meaning that when one neighbor unveils a brand new tool, it’s only a matter of the time before another answers in sort. That’s why there’s now a great deal of speculation that the latest round of casino expansion planned for New York could ultimately lead to a unique casino in North Jersey, as nj-new Jersey continues to retain their shrinking share regarding the regional casino market in that area.
The threat that is new of in nyc hasn’t materialized yet and it may never take place at all. New Yorkers are going to the polls on Election in November to decide whether or not to approve the building of new, ‘Las Vegas-style’ casino resorts in upstate New York day. But passage seems at least reasonably likely, which could add yet more regional competition to the mix.
One Upsmanship But Could It Be Working?
And should more gambling enterprises be added in other states, it’s likely that New Jersey would see that being an invitation to incorporate a new casino of the own. In specific, politicians and industry insiders are imagining the possibility of a casino into the Meadowlands, a place in northeast New Jersey that is currently your website of the Meadowlands Sports Complex: home to the Meadowlands Racetrack, MetLife Stadium (which houses the New York Jets and the New York Giants), plus the Izod Center, which formerly hosted the New Jersey Nets (that have since become the Brooklyn Nets) and the New Jersey Devils hockey group.
Are you still with us?
According to some in North Jersey, the state is losing a great amount of prospective revenue by maybe not having a casino in that area of the state. Plenty of gamblers, they say, are headed to the Empire Casino in Yonkers, NY or nearby Pennsylvania casinos in Bethlehem as well as the Poconos. These places are lot far more convenient to access for many nj-new Jersey residents than the casinos in their own state.
‘Do you might think folks from northern New Jersey are going to drive most of the way to Atlantic City when they would like to play the slots for the hours that are few’ asked Jeffrey Gural, operator of this Meadowlands racetrack. ‘Gas is $4 a gallon. I am told by you.’
But while the risk of more casinos that are regional end up being the spark that finally pushes the state to seriously consider a Meadowlands casino, the concept has held it’s place in the works for the while. And in reality, the biggest battle will be the one between Atlantic City and North Jersey. Many Atlantic City officials fear that a new casino in northern New Jersey could be the death knell for the town’s already flailing land video gaming industry.
Atlantic City Revival Still Needs A arrived at Jesus
The revival of Atlantic City has been a major policy point for brand New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, who claims which he doesn’t want any new casinos to be built outside of the city at least until his five-year plan for revitalizing the casino industry there is certainly given an opportunity to work. While that effort may not have had quite the results Christie was hoping for therefore far, losings have at least slowed in Atlantic City and also the governor’s office says if he had known New York was planning to build new casinos that he would have followed the same plan even.
‘[The plan to build new gambling enterprises in New York] doesn’t change we can to maintain or grow our presence in the competitive casino market,’ said Michael Drewniak, a spokesman for the governor that we set out at the beginning of the administration to give Atlantic City the best chance.
LAND CASINO SATURATION IN THE USA:
Across the usa, gaming analysts warn that the brick-and-mortar casino industry is nearing its saturation point. In early 2013, Alex Bumazhny, a Fitch gaming analyst, told Bloomberg News that land-based gaming had been ‘close’ to this level already, and huuuge bonus University of Nevada, Reno teacher Mark Nichols concurred, saying ‘…everybody is pretty much the same and everybody is for a passing fancy playing field. Then it just comes down to location.’
With Atlantic City’s land video gaming revenues down a whopping 50 percent since neighboring Pennsylvania exposed its casino doors in 2006, sufficient reason for also newer casinos in Illinois and Maryland struggling to meet up profit goals, it’s hard to argue using this obvious reality that is new.
Several states are now actually looking to burgeoning appropriate and regulated online state-by-state gambling to pick up the slack. The gambling industry as well as state coffers across the country will certainly be waiting and watching to see how this new aspect plays out with Nevada already offering online poker, and Delaware and New Jersey perched to offer full casino games before year’s end.
Las Vegas Sands 3rd Quarter Macau Profits Shine In Comparison To Las Vegas
It is all about Macau: Las Vegas Sands Corp.’s 3rd quarter profits were soaring into the Asian gambling mecca.
Location, location, location: that’s what they always say in property. And for vegas Sands Corp., that’s appearing entirely true, even though, ironically, it’s Macau, not Las Vegas, that’s turning out to be the casino company’s shining star.
‘(Las Las Vegas Sands) continues to be predominantly A china story that is secular-driven’ noted Macquarie Securities gaming analyst Chad Beynon following the Sands’ third quarter P & L statement. ‘In our view, Las Vegas Sands continues to be the best Asian gaming growth and income investment story.’
Macau Carries the Day
Despite a so-so performance from the Sands’ shnazzy Las vegas, nevada Strip properties, the Venetian together with Palazzo, analysts are still gung-ho on Las Vegas Sands’ overall monetary outlook.
‘We continue steadily to like the Macau gaming sector total, driven by attractive marketwide revenue growth, especially in the mass gaming segment,’ added JP Morgan video gaming analyst Joe Greff. ‘Las Las Vegas Sands’ hotel room base should allow [the company] to grow top line and [cash flows] in more than the marketplace participants.’
Seems the bully gaming market in Macau is still growing at a steroidal rate; some analysts anticipate the end-of-October figures to exceed any single-month income records up to now. Plus the July September 2013 quarter showed a 43 percent boost in Sands’ four main Macau video gaming divisions, and a staggering 89 percent bump from the same time period year that is last. With $2.34 billion in net revenues from their Macau properties for the quarter that is third it results in an astonishing 65 percent of the company’s overall intake of $3.57 billion.
No wonder Sands CEO Sheldon Adelson is pouring more development money into another project there; he’s $2.7 billion earmarked for a new 3,000-room property that has a Parisian theme and a 2015 anticipated opening. That can certainly make five major casinos there ( and exactly why not once they’re making money hand over fist): the Venetian Macau, Four Seasons Macau, Sands Macau, and the multiple-hotel Sands Cotai Central task, combined with the resort that is new planned.
Non-Gambling Profits Also Doing Well
And it’s not just gaming that is going gangbusters for Sands in Asia; non-gaming revenues are pulling their weight also, in accordance with Rob Goldstein, the business’s president of global gaming operations.
‘With our room base, that is clearly a very positive thing for us,’ Goldstein said, discussing the trend of mainland Chinese tourists coming to and staying in Macau. ‘They stay much longer, come from further away and require sleeping rooms. So Sheldon’s (Adelson) 9,000 sleeping rooms in Cotai ended up become a pretty good concept.’
Susquehanna International Group gaming analyst Rachael Rothman agrees, incorporating that the influx that is growing of to Macau highlights ‘…the importance of this infrastructure build-out in greater China that continues to increase Macau’s reach.’
Adelson are the major factor to that much-needed infrastructure, which includes a $10 billion Hong Kong-Macau-Zhuhai Bridge slated to start in 2016. The bridge will greatly cut down on the drive time it takes for visitors to reach Macau from Asia, which, as anyone whom has ever sat in traffic knows, is definitely a thing that is good.
Sands’ Macau success has analysts chomping to see what the casino company shall do whenever and if Japan legalizes gambling too. Sands president Michael Leven says that Asian nation’s $6 billion a 12 months casino market would match what’s taking place on the las vegas strip, but macau’s $38 billion take in 2012 are hard to top, specially as those figures are up another 17 percent at the time of end of third quarter 2013.