© 2024
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Massachusetts Casino Regulators Want More Details On MGM Springfield Redesign

An artists rendering of the proposed MGM Casino in Springfield, MA
MGMSpringfield

Officials with MGM asked the Massachusetts Gaming Commission Thursday to approve controversial changes to the design of the Springfield casino project.

MGM Springfield President Mike Mathis said new plans that shrink the size of the casino complex by 10 percent and eliminate a 25-story hotel will not reduce projected gambling revenue. He said replacing the high rise hotel with a six-story building with the same number of rooms won’t detract from a premium hotel experience, but will allow MGM to save up to $75 million in construction costs.

" From a plan view we think this project is remarkably similar, and in fact better," Mathis told commissioners at a meeting Thursday in Springfield.

Commission Chairman Stephen Crosby said MGM’s two-hour presentation was “persuasive.” He and other commissioners pressed for more details on the project budget, questioning why costs have escalated so much.

MGM said it expects to spend $950 million on the Springfield project, which was originally budgeted at $800.

The record-setting tenure of Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno. The 2011 tornado and its recovery that remade the largest city in Western Massachusetts. The fallout from the deadly COVID outbreak at the Holyoke Soldiers Home. Those are just a few of the thousands and thousands of stories WAMC’s Pioneer Valley Bureau Chief Paul Tuthill has covered for WAMC in his nearly 17 years with the station.