Competitive Market the Reason for Additions to Casino Plan

Less than three months after presenting updated plans for a casino at Rockingham Park, Millennium Gaming will again deliver a plan tonight, this time with more additions that show both a hotel and entertainment center on site.

The design will be showed off at 7 p.m. in the Belmont Room at Rockingham Park. Millennium Gaming owns the option to buy the 107-year-old racetrack should expanded gambling legislation be passed in the state and the park be awarded a casino bid.

Rich Killion, spokesperson for Millennium Gaming, said that the updated design stems from two factors.

The first – he said the original legislation in New Hampshire was looking toward multiple facilities, and now the current framework is for a competitive award process that will include a number of suitors.

The second is the reality of gambling facilities in Massachusetts, which wasn't the case when Rockingham Park casino plans were first drafted.

Millennium Gaming co-CEO Bill Wortman will return to Salem to explain the new plans. He will be joined by David Climans of Climans Green Liang Architects Inc.

Wortman said that the plan will now be in excess of $600 million, according to a report by the Eagle Tribune. The original plan was valued around $450 million.

Killion dismissed the notion that the entertainment center will cause problems for other facilities in the state, such as the Verizon Wireless Arena in Manchester or Capitol Center for the Arts in Concord.

"The entertainment center is being implemented not to compete with any of the existing facilities (in the state), it's just to provide more amenities for the people to come to Rockingham Park," he said.

An amendment to Senate Bill 152 being proposed by Rep. Patrick Long (D-Manchester) is calling for a 1,500-seat limit for entertainment venues on a casino property.

Killion said that the amendment doesn't impact Millennium Gaming's plans one iota.

Jim Rubens, chairman of the Granite State Coalition Against Expanded Gambling, said that casino developers "consistently over-promise delivery dates, venue amenities and tax revenues to secure political support.

"If Millennium wants NH to believe its promises, write the promises into the bill, otherwise the promises are worthless except to the gullible," said Rubens in an email to Salem Patch. "No temporary facility, no 5-year delivery date for the permanent facility."

The temporary facility Rubens referenced appears in the current iteration of SB 152:

No gaming licensee may begin operations until the lottery commission has adopted final rules. Once final rules have been adopted, a gaming licensee may commence operations in a temporary gaming location while completing construction of the permanent gaming location.

But Killion said that the Meadows facility in Washington County, PA is an example of Millennium Gaming meeting expectations, something that he said would be corroborated by elected officials in that region.

"That's not a phone call Jim Rubens wants to make, because he doesn't want to hear how that went," said Killion.

Representatives of the Rockingham Park plan have previously told the House casino committee that they would not be pursuing a temporary facility, if they are awarded the state's proposed casino license.

Killion also argued against the "bait and switch" notion of offering up a hotel and entertainment center prior to both legislation passing and a bid being awarded to Rockingham Park.

"No operator worth their salt is going to come into New Hampshire and know they are entering a competitive environment and not put the money into the facility."

During a House subcommittee work session on SB 152 last week, legislators discussed whether a N.H. casino could stack up to the proposals going forward in Massachusetts, specifically the $1 billion Suffolk Downs design.

But Killion said that the east Boston proposal along with another in Everett, Mass. both have tremendous mitigation factors, unlike Rockingham Park.

He called the Suffolk Downs investment "much more sizable."

Members of Salem's Board of Selectmen will be unable to attend tonight's event due to a scheduled meeting, although all five have spoken out in support of a casino at Rockingham Park.

Selectman Stephen Campbell, who is the board representative to the town's Casino Advisory Committee, said that Millennium Gaming forwarded a concept picture to all board members.

"It's an impressive set of buildings," he said.

Campbell said that the larger investment will help to increase the Salem tax base even more than previously expected.