First Massachusetts gaming license may not be awarded until 2014

Howard Stutz

September 26, 2012 - 3:03 pm

It might be awhile before gaming comes to Massachusetts.

A consultant to the Massachusetts Gaming Commission laid out a plan calling for the first casino license to be awarded in late February 2014.

Massachusetts Gaming Commission Chairman Stephen Crosby called the schedule “prudent.”

“We could possibly get it done two or three months earlier, if everything went like clockwork,” Crosby told the Boston Herald. “But that is the range.”

The commission will analyze proposals for three full casino licenses and one slot machine-only license. Three entities have paid a required $400,000 preliminary license fee: Suffolk Downs Raceway in East Boston in conjunction with Caesars Entertainment Corp., MGM Resorts International for a proposed Springfield casino and Plainridge Racecourse in Plainville for a slots parlor.

Four other plans are in the works for Springfield including proposals from Ameristar Casinos and Penn National Gaming.

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