MA Casino Developments

I've said it for a while and I'll repeat it again: I support having a casino in Boston... just not in East Boston. I think the most sensible and obvious place to put a casino would be adjacent to the BCEC as a complementary convention-hotel venue for large trade shows to be attracted to the city. It would encourage silver-line use (and perhaps improvements), it would provide much desired incentive for a hotelier to build hotel rooms at the seaport FAST, and it would have little-if-any consequence to traffic congestion in the area because the infrastructure is already there to accommodate it. And, frankly, it would be easier to get to than Suffolk Downs.

Seriously, if I only had $400,000 and a team to put a plan together, Caesars' Suffolk Downs would be far from a sure thing.
 
What happened to the proposals to put the slot parlor on the grounds of the airport? I don't like the idea of a casino in the immediate Greater Boston area, but it seems that a casino or slot parlor adjacent to the airport would be the lowest impact in terms of undesirable elements IMO.
 
dshoost88 said:
I think the most sensible and obvious place to put a casino would be adjacent to the BCEC as a complementary convention-hotel venue for large trade shows to be attracted to the city. It would encourage silver-line use (and perhaps improvements), it would provide much desired incentive for a hotelier to build hotel rooms at the seaport FAST, and it would have little-if-any consequence to traffic congestion in the area because the infrastructure is already there to accommodate it.
Click to expand...

Also, though hotel rooms are hotel rooms no matter where or for what purpose, I think that the convention industry and casino gambling industries should not be complementary in a city like Boston. Let Las Vegas be the self-proclaimed entertainment capital. I think that anybody who chooses Boston to hold a convention would most likely choose it for a more classic Boston experience than casino entertainment.
 
^^^
Not sure about that. Last time I attended a conference in NY(and it was for software developers) a pretty small group went for Broadway shows but large majority hit strip clubs. Most people who leave their families behind are not going for cultural and historic landmarks...

I think casino next to BCEC will let us kill many birds with one stone. And we likely won't even need to pay for the stone.
 
b-line200 said:
Also, though hotel rooms are hotel rooms no matter where or for what purpose, I think that the convention industry and casino gambling industries should not be complementary in a city like Boston. Let Las Vegas be the self-proclaimed entertainment capital. I think that anybody who chooses Boston to hold a convention would most likely choose it for a more classic Boston experience than casino entertainment.
Click to expand...

WHY CANT BOSTON HAVE THIS:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3d9FC3Vgoc&feature=related

This is the kind of casino I've always pictured in the seaport. Why cant we have it. WHY!
 
I suppose that is true, and as an added bonus nobody is looking for that area to be a fine culture center.
However, realistically nobody wants casinos in their area, and that area might be sparsely populated right now and has access to an interstate, there are enough people in Southie and areas across the channel to make a casino anywhere near downtown Boston a nonstarter.
How do people feel about the casino being located near the airport though? It could be walkable from the terminals, has easy highway access and decent public transportation, and wouldn't affect East Boston because (1) nobody lives at the airport, and (2) traffic wouldn't funnel onto local roads.
 
I can't imagine all the loading and unloading, buses, taxis, shuttles and town cars and then throwng the casino traffic on top of it.
 
Everyone loves going to casinos, but no one wants one in their neighborhood. If only there was a handy anagram to describe this behavior.
 
b-line200 said:
Also, though hotel rooms are hotel rooms no matter where or for what purpose, I think that the convention industry and casino gambling industries should not be complementary in a city like Boston. Let Las Vegas be the self-proclaimed entertainment capital. I think that anybody who chooses Boston to hold a convention would most likely choose it for a more classic Boston experience than casino entertainment.
Click to expand...

Right -- Boston cannot compete with Vegas for the casino/convention business. Even with a casino, it just isn't competitive for that particular booking. We are competitive for other reasons, and a casino does nothing to enhance that.
 
I don't know. There are casinos and there are casinos.
I'd love to exchange my house for an apartment across from Monaco casino :)

But, it must be said, there are not that many good examples to follow...
 
mass88 said:
I would agree. There is something about a casino being built in Boston that bothers me. I feel like it cheapens the city. I have zero issues with a casino being built in western Mass and Southern Mass, but I do with one being built in Boston.
Click to expand...

I feel very betrayed as the Mayor continues to push this like the local citizens have no say at all.
**Quotes from the Mayor. "We need this type of job creation, High Tech jobs?" This guy is such a hypocrite. Only when it benefits him & his cronies.

**The first real issue is TRAFFIC. (Assembly Square & Wellington are experiencing the same problem as those areas are becoming over-developed).

**The Highway infrastructure needs to be upgraded included a massive upgrade & expansion to the Hard-rails Orange, Blue, Red-line.
(Exactly why the Seaport District will be a second thought on first rate development space) Lack of Planning

I just feel bad for Revere & E.Boston Residents. The traffic in the area from 3:00 and 5:00 is a complete nightmare now add a billion dollar casino in that area.

This is not the best interest of anybody but the politicans & the land owners of Suffolk-downs. I can deal with Casinos in the state but not this area.
 
Last edited:
^I don't think you can argue that places like Assembly Sq. are overdeveloped. I would say, underinvested in. New Roads alignments and T access hopefully reduce this. Hopefully East Boston gets necessary investment, although I don't see Weekday rush hours being prime casino traffic time.

With Chelsea pushing for Silver line on the other side of the Airport, is there a way to stop the Silver line at the Casino? I would think that there would even be a sizeable demand (maybe not initially but definitely after the Seaport hotels build out) for Silver line service to go from SS to the Casino while totally bypassing the airport- whats the logistics of this? I hope this is where the flexibility of BRT over Light Rail becomes a plus for the lines negatives.
 
Not sure why the SL would bypass the airport to go to Chelsea. Especially with an actual station (underground at that. It just becomes a stop (or series of stops) that drops you off at the airport and picks up casino or hotel guests and continues on. Same thing in reverse on the way back, you know the way a subway works.

Not sure if a single airport station below central parking with similar access to all terminals as the garage or a platform at each terminal is best, but they are all pipe dreams anyways.

The only way to stop thinking of the SL as a bus is to stop treating it as one with unnecessary spurs and bypasses.
 
But I am saying in the more near term. In 5 years you could have a casino and 1000 plus more hotel rooms in seaport. To go from Seaport to Casino on transit, Silver line thru ted williams would be most direct. But it would take half hour to run through the airport terminals. If they had some SL go direct to casino bypassing the airport, would that be feasible and how difficult would it be to set up? I imagine a lot of demand from the CR and Red line people coming in.
 
Well, at the risk of stereotyping. Yes, you would expect a lot of people who use the Red line from Braintree, Quincy, Dorchester, and Chinatown to want direct access to the casino.

Macau isn't the new gaming mecca that it is without good reason. Culturally speaking Asians tend to love gambling, and the casino honchos know this and capitilize on it.

However, by bypassing the airport you are skipping over the visitors who flew into the airport and may specifically be here for the "Resort" casino. Thus, another dedicated bus is needed from airport to casino.
 
choo said:
In 5 years you could have a casino and 1000 plus more hotel rooms in seaport.
Click to expand...

But as HenryAlan pointed out, making Boston competitive for a destination casino isn't entirely likely. People travel to Las Vegas, Atlantic City, or Monaco for casino entertainment, and Boston is off the radar for casino entertainment. Though it seems that there is some demand for destination resort casinos in Connecticut, I can't see Boston replicating this due to the limited demand (most people going to Foxwoods or Mohegan Sun are coming from the Boston or NY metro areas).

Also, last time I checked the Las Vegas strip isn't exactly a shining example of urbanism. And at least part of Monaco's success is due to its reputation as a tax haven. Massachusetts can hardly compete with that!

Wherever the casino is located, mass transit is a nonstarter. In addition to increased traffic, the last thing I want to see is a drunk casino-goer getting onto Rt. 1. That's why I'm suggesting the airport, because in addition to having mass transit coverage, that way the casino would cater to travelers who stop by before or after their flight. It seems slightly less sketchy when it's appealing to that market.
 
I am not saying anything about Boston competing as a casino destination or of an Asian fondness for gambling, I am saying with thousands of hotels being built in the seaport for a convention center housing thousands of convention goers. A convention day wraps up and you want to go to the Casino for the night. A cab runs what $35? The T is $2.

With the Current routing would go silver-red-green/orange/blue.
I'm saying could you run an SL# that goes SS-Seaport-Casino? I think there will be a strong demand for this type of route for that reason. I am wondering the obstacles to doing this.
 
choo said:
I am not saying anything about Boston competing as a casino destination or of an Asian fondness for gambling, I am saying with thousands of hotels being built in the seaport for a convention center housing thousands of convention goers. A convention day wraps up and you want to go to the Casino for the night. A cab runs what $35? The T is $2.

With the Current routing would go silver-red-green/orange/blue.
I'm saying could you run an SL# that goes SS-Seaport-Casino? I think there will be a strong demand for this type of route for that reason. I am wondering the obstacles to doing this.
Click to expand...

Don't forget this
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top