MGM Springfield Awaits Verdict After Finalising Casino Proposal
MGM Resorts recently confirmed that it had submitted its final proposal for its MGM Springfield casino and will now have to wait for the results as the proposal will be reviewed by the city council and also at a public hearing.
The initial MGM Springfield casino proposal was for a $800 million casino resort and gained approval from the state gaming commission.
MGM Springfield recently made headlines when the casino decided to make a number of changes to its initial proposal and initial estimates suggested that the overall scope of the project was being reduced by around 15 percent.
One of the reasons why MGM Springfield decided to reduce the scope of its project was due to the competition being posed by the neighboring states of Rhode Island and Connecticut who have also decided to open new casinos in an effort to keep gamblers from going across the state border and venturing into the MGM Springfield casino. MGM executives decided that the gambling market in Massachusetts would be impacted with the new casinos opening out in Rhode Island and Connecticut and decided that it would be in its best interests to reduce its Springfield project.
These changes did not go down well with the Springfield Mayor nor state legislators who were concerned about the sudden reduction in the scope of the project which would bring down the number of employment opportunities and revenue generated. The legislators decided to hold a meeting between senior executives of MGM Springfield and MGM Resorts to voice their concern. MGM confirmed in October that they had met goals in terms of hiring and would aims to meet further target for veterans.
Those concerns were addressed by MGM Resorts president who confirmed that his company was committed to the Springfield project and would invest an additional $150 million to increase the budget and reaffirm MGM’s commitment to Springfield.
The City Solicitor Edward Pikula and City Chief Development Officer Kevin Kennedy had raised a number of questions regarding the proposed changes and wanted clarifications from MGM Springfield who would later clarify that the project was not being reduced by 15 percent but only by 9.71 percent. MGM Springfield has responded to all the questions raised and resubmitted its new proposal.
There has hardly been any progress on construction work at the MGM Springfield site and MGM Resorts has already informed the state gaming commission that the Springfield project will be delayed due to the on-going work on Interstate 91 and stated that the project will most likely be opened in September 2018. The delay in the project will most likely mean that the neighboring casinos in Connecticut and Rhode Island will open before MGM Springfield.
