In our review of the week's news, MGM Springfield had its second-worst full month of business in June since it opened for business last year.
The resort handled just less than $20 million last month, according to data from the Massachusetts Gaming Commission. Meanwhile, Encore Boston Harbor took in almost $17 million during its first week in business.
Panelist Rick Hurst said he isn't surprised by MGM's struggles — and thinks the casino is doing pretty well.
"Comparing them to Encore is really like comparing apples and oranges," Hurst said. "Encore has a much larger market, richer market. [MGM] knew the market they were getting into here. The idea that they can't attract high rollers shouldn't suprise them. It would've been good if they could, but the high rollers will choose places other than Springfield."
Massachusetts has revenue considerations riding on MGM's success, and the local area has jobs on the line.
Panelist Matt Szafranski said elected officials should indeed be concerned about the casino not hitting its goals, but said they can approach the issue with MGM without too much confrontation.
"There is some evidence that there has been a little bit of a boost in maybe some meals tax revenue," Szafranski said. "I think the more important thing to follow is what is the information that's coming out of MGM's quarterly results? ...They claim that they're doing well in some other revenue streams. I think it behooves elected officials in Springfield to start asking those questions, and demanding information about it. If they can make money without hitting gambling revenue projections, it's not the end of the world."
Hampshire College this week anncounced Edward Wingenbach will become the school's new president. He comes from Ripon College in Wisconsin. Hampshire is dealing with financial troubles which have led to its enrollment dropping by half. The school has undertaken an ambitious fundraising campaign and has chosen to remain independent.
Meanwhile, lawmakers on Beacon Hill have yet to agree to a new Massachusetts state budget. The fiscal year began July 1 and the state has been operating on a temporary spending plan. And late budgets have increasing become more common in Massachusetts in recent years.
And the governors of Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island met this week to discuss regional issues. One of the items included how the states can improve the sharing of driver violation data. This comes after an investigation showed the Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles ignored violation notices from other states, and didn't let other states know about violations by their drivers in Massachusetts.
Guests:
- Rick Hurst, publisher, Af Am Point of View
- Matt Szafranski, editor, Western Mass. Politics and Insight
