SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (AP) — After more than two years of competition, the last resort-casino proposal remaining for western Massachusetts is in Springfield, a former manufacturing hub where an $800 million project straddling its downtown and South End neighborhoods represents the city’s biggest economic development undertaking in a generation.
The proposal by MGM Resorts International, which owns the Mirage, Bellagio, MGM Grand and other casinos, was approved by city voters last July and has advanced farther than four others in the race for the state’s sole western region casino license. Plans by Penn National Gaming and Ameristar Casinos never went before Springfield voters, while plans by Mohegan Sun in Palmer and Hard Rock International in West Springfield were defeated in local referendums.
