Developers: Financing Secured For $650M New Bedford Casino
BOSTON (AP) — Developers proposing a $650 million Foxwoods resort casino on the New Bedford waterfront said Monday that they've secured financing and brought on a former Foxwoods CEO as partner.
Scott Butera, who resigned as head of the Connecticut-based Foxwoods in October 2014, confirmed in a letter to state regulators that he's joined KG Urban Enterprises, of New York.
Meanwhile, Gaming and Leisure Properties, of Pennsylvania, says it has committed to helping finance the project's costs, though the details of the arrangement were not disclosed Monday. Foxwoods has already agreed to operate the casino when it opens.
"With its glass casino on the wharf boasting 180-degree views of the harbor and its proximity to the New Bedford commercial fleet, the Buzzard Bay hurricane barrier, State Pier, Cape Cod, Martha's Vineyard, Nantucket, KG Urban's Cannon Street property will create a gaming and resort experience unique not only in the Commonwealth but in the entire country," Steven Snyder, a senior vice president at Gaming and Leisure Properties, said in a letter to the commission.
Gaming and Leisure Properties owns more than a dozen casinos in Illinois, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Ohio and other states. It was formed in 2013 as a subsidiary of Penn National Gaming, which is developing a slot parlor in nearby Plainville, Massachusetts, but is now a separately held public company.
The news came ahead of a Monday deadline to submit any remaining financial and organizational materials to the state Gaming Commission. Failure to submit the required documents would disqualify applicants from vying for the state's third and final resort casino license.
The gaming commission, through its spokeswoman, said it is reviewing KG Urban's information and declined to say whether the materials met the deadline requirements.
The firm is among three vying for the casino license, which is reserved for the state's southeastern region.
Mass Gaming & Entertainment, a subsidiary of Rush Street Gaming, of Chicago, is proposing a $650 million resort on the Brockton Fairgrounds.
The gaming commission has already deemed that firm's initial application "substantially complete." It will vote Wednesday on whether Mass Gaming & Entertainment officially moves on to the next round of the competition.
Brockton residents will vote May 12 on a proposed "host community agreement" that calls for the developer to pay the city about $3 million upfront, then about $10 million annually once the facility opens.
Meanwhile, Crossroads Massachusetts is proposing a casino on town-owned land in Somerset.
The details of that plan, however, remain unclear. The firm requested another extension Monday and the gaming commission said it will consider that request at a later date.
Massachusetts has already issued three casino licenses: MGM's planned $800 million resort in Springfield, Wynn's $1.7 billion resort in Everett and Penn National Gaming's $250 million slot parlor in Plainville.
The southeast promises to be among the most competitive gambling regions.
Any new resort casino would have to compete with the Plainville slot parlor, which is set to open in June, as well as a possible casino in Taunton proposed by the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe, which is seeking federal tribal reservation status to build the project.
Across the state line, Twin River Casino is already well established in the Rhode Island town of Lincoln. The company also owns the Newport Grand slot parlor, which it wants to move to Tiverton, located on the Massachusetts state line.
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