March 29, 2024
GAMBLING

R.I. developer seeks facility contract change

NEWPORT, R.I. – A hotel developer buying the Newport Grand slot parlor is pushing to change the state’s 10-year master contract with the gambling facility, according to a report published Sunday.

The Cranston-based Procaccianti Group is promoting legislation that would extend the contract for five years, according to the Newport Daily News.

Details of the proposed changes were not immediately available, and even the bill’s sponsor, Rep. Henry C. Rose, D-East Providence, said he did not know the bill’s contents, according to the report.

Rose said he was asked to sponsor the legislation by the buyer’s lobbyist, William Farrell. Normally, when lawmakers introduce legislation, they submit an outline to legislative lawyers of what they would like to do.

The lawyers then draft the appropriate legal wording. In this case, Rose said, Farrell submitted the bill’s outline directly to staff lawyers, the newspaper reported.

The Procaccianti Group is buying Newport Grand, one of two state-sanctioned gambling halls in Rhode Island, for $155 million and plans to refurbish it to cater to higher-income customers. Recent studies showed the slot parlor had been losing business.


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