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Developers Gearing up for Round II of Massachusetts Casino Bill

The August 10, 2023, By Takato Sugihara

The Casino bill may be dead on Beacon Hill, but that has not stopped developers from gearing up for a possible second round, with eyes on building a casino resort in Western Massachusetts.

Most recently, the owner of the Wyckoff Country Club in Holyoke has proposed building a casino in cooperation with Paper City Development.

Holyoke voters have twice approved ballot questions supporting a casino. If given the go-ahead, developers would seek to build a ramp off Interstate 91 to bring casino traffic to the 100-acre site.

Yesterday, the Mohegan Sun Tribal Council reassured Palmer officials that if the Legislature approves expanded gambling, the tribe would proceed with plans for a casino off the Massachusetts Turnpike.

Mohegan council members, including chairwoman Kennedy Lynn Malerba, met with Paul Burns, president of the Palmer Town Council, Acting Town Manager Patricia Kennedy and the town’s attorney. Burns sought, and the tribe agreed to sign, a memorandum of understanding committing them to build a casino if the Legislature and Gov. Deval Patrick agree on a casino bill.

The meeting comes in the wake of the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe’s decision to switch proposed casino sites from Middleboro to Fall River. Mohegan tribal officials hope to build a 600-room hotel, a casino with 3,000 slot machines and 100 table games and 20,000 square feet of retail space, Burns said.

Some estimate the casinos in Massachusetts would generate $1.4 billion to $2 billion a year in state revenue. They could also bleed gambling revenues from Connecticut’s two tribal casinos, Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun, which together paid the state $350.3 million in taxes last year.

Massachusetts casinos could cost Connecticut 30 percent of its gambling revenues, said Lawrence Klatzkin, an analyst with Chapdelaine Credit Partners.

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