On Wednesday, March 18, 2009, Mitchell Etess the CEO (Chief Executive Officer) of the Mohegan Sun Casino, spoke at a breakfast for the Smaller Business Association of New England at the Westin Hotel in Waltham, Massachusetts.
Etess said, " The gist of what I said relative to Palmer was that as far as generating the most for the Commonwealth in terms of tax revenue, tourism and employment in the long term is an overall, comprehensive destination."
Etess also said, "More value would be created by a full development like our Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs. There's lot more to do there than slots in a box."
Etess talked about the Mohegan Sun in Connecticut when he said, "I spoke about the history of Mohegan Sun and what makes us so successful, and about what we've dealt with the economic downturn, the rollbacks rather than layoffs."
The plans for the Palmer, Massachusetts site call for a hotel, a spa, restaurants, retail stores and meeting rooms. The casino is supposedly projected to produce $500 million to $600 million in revenues per year. The Palmer site is 152 acres.
Timothy Cahill, the Massachusetts Treasurer, recently said that he was in favor of three slot parlors instead of resort casino destinations like the Palmer proposal. When asked about slot parlors Etess reportedly said, "We've been careful to not get ahead of the process."
Remember the Palmer site is only 55 miles from the Mohegan Sun Casino in Uncasville, Connecticut. In my opinion, there is not enough people with enough income in these difficult times to justify building this pink elephant. Are they trying to grasp at straws?
Should we (the Mohegan Tribe) be building in Palmer? Will it work? Is it a bad deal? Should the MTGA (the Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority, the Mohegan Tribal Council) be held accountable for this proposal? Maybe the MTGA should tell Etess we shouldn't do this? Is this a bad deal? Should they go? What do you think?
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