MetroWest495 Biz

MetroWest495 Biz | August 2015 17 two on-site bars. Within five weeks, including some soft opening time before the official grand opening, the slots parlor netted more than $200,000 in lottery sales, Sweeney said. Still, he said, there's obvious ten- sion between the two forms of legal gambling. "Plainridge is competition for us," he said. "We view it as friendly com- petition. We have a good relationship with them, but we are territorial about our products." At the same time, Sweeney said lottery employees have been working closely with the other lottery agents in the area, trying to help them find ways to keep their sales up. In some cases, the extra traffic com- ing into town may balance out any competition Plainridge Park provides. Andrea Hernandez, a cashier at Route 1 Mobile, a Plainville gas station and convenience store, said she thinks she's been selling a few more lottery tickets thanks to an increase in traffic going by. Overall, she said, sales at the store are definitely up as more people get gas, cigarettes and other quick purchases. "I feel like people are just stopping here at the store more since there's more movement on this road," she said. "It's a good thing that the casino's there. It brings more people here. It's definitely brought up business." The plan for Plainridge Park received lots of local support from the beginning, in part because it offered a way to keep the town's struggling harness racing facility alive. The state Gaming Commission approved it partly because its location seemed perfect for collecting gambling dollars that were flowing out of the state and into Rhode Island and Connecticut. But not everyone bought that notion. Mary-Ann Greanier helped found the group No Plainville Racino in an unsuccessful bid to stop the proj- ect. Greanier, whose house was located next door to the Plainridge Park site, was so adamantly opposed to the slot parlor that, after it was approved, she moved out of the town where she'd lived for 35 years and into Littleton. "We didn't want to live in a town that was getting revenue from a ca- sino," she said. Greanier said she was also wor- ried that the slots parlor would be an unpleasant neighbor, leading to traffic and other problems. But so far those concerns may have been unfounded. These days, she's been returning to the neighborhood almost every day because she's still in the process of selling the house. Greanier says she's been pleasantly surprised at how little disruption there's been. "The traffic is not as bad as we had anticipated so far," she said. "From what I've been told at least, there hasn't been any increase in traffic issues or DUIs … And it would be so great if there aren't any. It would be fantastic," Greanier said, While Greanier said she hopes she won't end up in a position to say "I told you so," she's still in wait-and-see mode. Like many casino opponents across the state, Greanier said she's worried about the long-term economics of the industry, including what will happen when the three resort casinos allowed under the Massachusetts law are all up and running — and also what will happen if things don't go as planned and they fail to generate the expected revenue for the state. Larger projects face delays Plainridge Park was the smallest operation licensed under the Mas- sachusetts law. MGM Springfield in Western Massachusetts may open in 2018, after requesting a delay in its schedule because of highway construc- tion. Wynn Resorts' planned casino in Everett has also been delayed, due to legal challenges by the nearby commu- nities of Boston, Revere, and Somer- ville as well as a traffic study requested s page 22 Plainridge Park, the first gambling venue to open in Massachusetts, has more than 1,200 slot machines. The state in 2011 also approved three resort casinos. Jack Lank, president of the United Regional Chamber of Commerce

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