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MGM Springfield Seeks Delay In Awarding Casino License

WAMC Northeast Public Radio | By Paul Tuthill
Published April 17, 2014 at 4:14 PM EDT
An artist's rendering of MGM Resorts proposed casino in Springfield, MA
MGM Springfield
An artist's rendering of MGM Resorts proposed casino in Springfield, MA

Nervous about the prospect of a casino repeal referendum, MGM is asking Massachusetts gaming industry regulators to delay awarding a casino license for the company’s Springfield project.

An artist's rendering of MGM Resorts proposed casino in Springfield, MA
Credit MGM Springfield

MGM Springfield President Mike Mathis asked the Massachusetts Gaming Commission on Thursday to continue its evaluation of MGM’s $800 million casino project, but stop just short of  issuing a license.

"What we find ourselves in because of the repeal effort is the award of a license that does not allow for the commencement of construction."

Mathis said the actual casino license award, expected by the end of next month,  would obligate MGM to immediately pay out up to $200 million for fees and closing costs for the project--money it could lose if the state’s casino law is repealed. The gaming commission took no action on MGM’s request.  The Supreme Judicial Court will hear arguments May 5th on whether to allow the repeal question on the November Election ballot.

Copyright 2014 WAMC Northeast Public Radio
Paul Tuthill
Paul Tuthill is WAMC’s Pioneer Valley Bureau Chief. He’s been covering news, everything from politics and government corruption to natural disasters and the arts, in western Massachusetts since 2007. Before joining WAMC, Paul was a reporter and anchor at WRKO in Boston. He was news director for more than a decade at WTAG in Worcester. Paul has won more than two dozen Associated Press Broadcast Awards. He won an Edward R. Murrow award for reporting on veterans’ healthcare for WAMC in 2011. Born and raised in western New York, Paul did his first radio reporting while he was a student at the University of Rochester.
See stories by Paul Tuthill

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Federal funding is gone.

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That means $2.1 million per year that Connecticut Public relied on to deliver you news, information, and entertainment programs you enjoyed is gone.

The future of public media is in your hands.

All donations are appreciated, but we ask in this moment you consider starting a monthly gift as a Sustainer to help replace what’s been lost.

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