I hope some details come out. For me, now that both have public approval it breaks down this way.
1) if Suffolk Downs promises to keep horse racing then Suffolk, while Everett site likely stays a chemical dump.
2) If no guarantee of horse racing (which effectively means its gone), then Wynn in Everett and Suffolk becomes future Olympic Village/Innovation District/soccer stadium/ residential utopia/etc.
Interesting theory. I've never considered the fact that the gaming commission might value horse racing so much that they would turn down Wynn on that basis. I will say that having two operators vying for one license should give the commission some leverage to squeeze a few more concessions out of each developer.
I think the Mohegan's are something of a wild card here. Wynn - from my perspective - is one of the best - if not the best - casino developers/operators in the world. He was such a cut-above Ceasars that I really thought the gaming commission would have a hard time turning down Wynn if the Eastie vote had passed with Ceasars as the operator. Mohegan is a substantially better financial position than Ceasars and they have had a reasonably good track record working with local governments in Connecticut and Pennsylvania. Their presence, plus the horse racing angle might give Suffolk Downs the edge.
On a related note, is anybody really surprised about the Revere vote? I know that there was a lot of speculation that an organized anti-casino effort might prevail here, but I can't say I wasn't terribly surprised by the numbers. Some people will argue about the amount of money that the Mohegan group spent and political strong-arming, but frankly those existing in East Boston in November, and the neighborhood was still able to prevail. It should also be noted that based on what I saw on twitter, this proposal won big in all wards, including Ward 1, where the track is located.
I don't think it was an accident that the casino opposition organized their November fight around East Boston and tended to mention Revere only in passing. There seems to be a sentiment about Revere that bubbles under the surface of these conversations, but nobody wants to talk about openly. So I'll say it:
A city whose economy has historically been centered on horse racing, dog racing, and beach-side amusements is probably going to be okay with casino gambling.
Does anybody disagree with that statement?
