Monday, August 5, 2013 the Massachusetts Gaming Commission denied Plainridge Racecourse a bid to develop a Slot Slum Parlor/Barn based upon…..well, corruption.
Following the revelations that former US Senator Scott Brown’s Patron Saint of Slots and owner of Plainridge Racecourse, Gary Piontkowski was stealing from the track’s “window,” the Massachusetts Gaming Commission has denied the facility’s bid for a slots license. A searing indictment was issued regarding the, “culture of fear and concealment pervasive in the operations of Plainridge.”
The investigation has revealed that there appears to have been a culture of fear and concealment pervasive in the operations of Plainridge.
In summary, the Commission was compelled to issue a negative determination to Ourway Realty LLC based on the following facts and circumstances among others which are detailed in the full written decision. Citing sections from the decision:
For many years leading up to and including the commencement of the Bureau’s investigation into Ourway, Gary Piontkowski was the functional head of the organization. The investigation unearthed a number of practices engaged in by Piontkowski that were deeply troubling. Though he is no longer part of the organization, we must consider the systemic issues that allowed those practices to take place, what has been done to remedy those deficiencies, and what the outlook for the future is vis-à-vis the operation of a category 2 (slots) gaming establishment. It is noteworthy that all of the adjustments, including the removal of Piontkowski, took place only after the Bureau brought the issues outlined in the Report to light. They were not detected by the principals of the organization themselves. Indeed, the principals, Stanley Fulton and Alfred Ross, purport to have been passive investors with no substantive oversight of the operation. Though we are unable to definitively determine what role Stanley Fulton and Alfred Ross played in the organization, we are able to conclude that they were either passive investors, as they claim, who offered little to no oversight or that they were more involved and poorly exercised their duties. In either event, we find their past involvement in the operation of Ourway troublesome.
There are several other slot slum sites on the drawing board and several that have been rejected by the locals. A leading contender for the one slots only gambling license to be awarded by the Mass Gaming Commission aka a slot barn, is the Raynham racetrack which like the Palmer site has inadequate water supplies.
Meanwhile, back at the Springfield blunder of it all, MGM is under close scrutiny for business practices/associates by GC per Globe. Those who are paying attention will recall that even Atlantic City had to distance itself from MGM with ties to Stanley Ho, his daughter and their sordid operations. Rather than ditch the partners in question, MGM left the state, only to return in February 2013 to file to have its 50% ownership in Borgata reinstated.
In other news, at the Tewksbury site-Penn National stated AVERAGE salary – not MEDIAN, which includes Executive million dollar packages, is $40K. Commissioner McHugh has voiced concern about wage disparity of actual workers. Median is low $20k – minimum wage. Part-time un-benefitted workers will be required to enroll in subsidized health care, aka Mass Health.
Legislators in Worcester and Merrimack Valley who voted for legalizing slots are now fighting proposals in their districts (boohoo, cry-babies….read the NIMBY bills you vote on!)
Governor Patrick and Senate President Murray are on the backstretch of their terms. The Speaker (the Godfather of welfare for horse racing/pensions) is rumored to be leaving. Mayor Menino (God bless him) is walking out the door at the end of an historic tenure and the single electric issue in the Mayoral race is casinos (Boston.com). The latest poll was split with undecided greater than the split differential. Suffolk University and the Boston Herald found that 49 percent of those surveyed support a Suffolk Downs casino and 43 percent oppose it.
Suffolk has no approved proposal and the City Council with 5 members running for mayor is split on a ward or citywide vote. Steve Wynn is working on his tan; Steve Wynn is still working on his tan (until death do us part) with an approved proposal in Everett that has a minor glitch……like the Palmer site, it has a minor glitch…….ya just can’t get there! Roads, highways, flyovers, bypasses…..not there.
In other news/casino chaos
*Middleborough is going after Wampanoag to the tune of $1Million for past due payments.
*GC median salary as of spring 2013 = $96,666 (Open Checkbook MGC payroll)
*Take heart, Commissioner McHugh is very concerned about those poor, likely minority, casino toilet scrubbers and the low wages they receive compared to the executive end of the bidness!
How about them apples Massholes? Lid slams!
*Congressional District 5 Primary Election October 15, 2013
Brownsberger, Sciortino and Spilka voted No on the forced special interest casino bill.
Clark and Koutoujian voted Yes with the lemmings.
Yes with the lemmings or No with principles…….hmmmmm, tough.
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“Legislators in Worcester and Merrimack Valley who voted for legalizing slots are now proposals in their districts.”
Seems like there might be the rest of the verb missing between ‘now’ and ‘proposals’. Did you intend to insert ‘fighting’, or ‘complaining about’ maybe?