Casino titans square off in Boston

Adelson, CEO of casino operator Las Vegas Sands Corp., and Gary Loveman, chief executive of the world’s largest gambling company — Harrah’s Entertainment — testified at a Statehouse hearing on Gov. Deval Patrick’s bill that calls for three resort casinos, estimated to generate $400 million in state revenue and 20,000 jobs.

“Three is too many,” Adelson, who grew up in Boston and still has a home here, said before testifying. “You’ll never cut off that flow of money to Connecticut unless you build something equal to or better in Massachusetts. The more casinos you put up, the more dilution there is.”

The Democratic governor, who also testified, said Massachusetts residents now spend $1 billion annually at Connecticut’s two casinos. Tuesday’s hearing had a pro-casino flavor, looking at revenue possibilities, following an Oct. 31 hearing that focused on gambling’s ills, such as addictions and crime.

Loveman, who lives in the Boston area, said he’s confident the Massachusetts market can support three casinos, and he projects that the state would eventually see close to $600 million in annual revenue — well over the governor’s estimates.

“We’re nowhere near oversaturation,” Loveman said. “There’s a lot of room to grow here.”

Loveman, who has spoken to owners of Suffolk Downs horse track about partnering on a bid, said his analysis shows that casinos could eventually generate $2.5 billion in gross revenue; Adelson pegged the figure at $1.5 billion.

“At the end of the day, someone like me has to write the check to build these places,” said Loveman, a former Harvard Business School professor. “So that’s not an idle speculation, that’s putting a check on the table for a billion dollars. If our projections are wrong we principally will be the ones who (lose).”

Patrick’s bill calls for a minimum investment of $1 billion, and would site a casino in each of three regions: the Boston area, southeastern Massachusetts, and western/central Massachusetts.

Harrah’s operates 50 casinos worldwide, including Caesars Palace, Flamingo and Bally’s in Las Vegas.

Adelson, who wants to build a casino in the Marlborough area, also operates hotel-casinos in Singapore and Macau, a former Portuguese colony in China.

House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi, who stands as Patrick’s main obstacle, says he remains opposed to an expansion of gambling. He has often cited his fear of bringing the “casino culture” to Massachusetts.

But Adelson and Loveman agreed that gambling already has a strong foothold in Massachusetts.

“Massachusetts is a state where I think this argument ought to be relatively easy,” Loveman said. “We have an awful lot of our residents gambling in Connecticut, we have one of the most aggressive and profitable lotteries in the United States, we have been betting on horse racing and dog racing. This is a state that’s already very much in the gaming business.”

Patrick testified that lawmakers shouldn’t moralize against casino gambling. He said his late mother gambled at casinos, and senior citizens and other adults “have been making their own decisions about what’s best for them for a very long while.”

Sen. Mark Montigny, a New Bedford Democrat and co-chairman of the legislative panel that held the hearing, described himself as a “skeptic” of casino gambling. He called for an independent analysis of Patrick’s revenue estimates.

“We are doing that right now and I welcome that,” Patrick said.

Montigny interrupted: “We and independent, that’s a bit of an oxymoron.”