"Rhode Island missed its chance to be ahead of the game. The Narragansett Indian casino proposed in West Warwick went down in flames after a carefully organized, well-financed opposition led by some state leaders (the General Assembly, however, supported the people’s right to vote on three separate occasions), the Greater Providence Chamber of Commerce and the Rhode Island Hospitality Association. We later learned that most of the multimillions spent in opposition to the casino proposal came from Twin River and Newport Grand (mostly the former).

It was simply a case of the haves protecting the haves.

Twin River’s owner, UTGR Inc., a subsidiary of BLB Investors, a partnership consisting of Kerzner International Limited, Waterford Group LLC and Starwood Capital Group, led by South African casino magnate Sol Kerzner (developer of Mohegan Sun), had a lot at stake. In this year alone, it is projected to receive an estimated $107.6 million as its share of the revenue from Twin River.

But perhaps the most insulting aspect of state and business leaders’ opposition to a world-class destination casino was their failure to protect Rhode Island’s fiscal and economic interests. That’s because no one demanded that Twin River’s owners sign a non-compete clause to ensure that they would not build a competing slot parlor or resort casino in a bordering state. The result of that failure? With Twin River’s owners pleading poormouth with Rhode Island officials for a taxpayer funded bailout, they are simultaneously spending millions of dollars just 25 miles away in Middleboro, Mass., committed to building a $1 billion destination resort casino.

It’s time to let the market take its course. If the owners who have pledged billions of dollars up the road in Massachusetts refuse to inject more capital into Twin River, then bankruptcy seems inevitable. With it, new opportunity will ultimately be afforded the state. Rhode Island could seek a temporary operator and competitively bid for the facility and the valuable license. But it should not stop there. Rhode Island should immediately move to provide full-scale casino gaming at Twin River. But not under the current ownership.

We have two ways to accomplish that. We can use the legislative process to call for a change to the state constitution — a choice that Rhode Island voters have already resoundingly rejected and one that could take years to pass — or we can consider a choice that would catapult us ahead of Massachusetts and stop the bleeding immediately: a partnership with the Narragansett Indian Tribe."

Get the Story:
J. Michael Levesque: Let tribe operate Twin River (The Providence Journal 6/25)

Another Story:
Twin River Seeking Chapter 11 Help (The New London Day 6/24)