 Good morning Austin. Good morning. We are calling to order meeting number 271 of the Massachusetts Gaming Commission on May 29th 2019 at 9 3rd 10 a.m. at our offices at 101 Federal Street here in Boston. We're going to begin with item number 2, Commissioner Stevens please. Thank you Madam Chair. Good morning. In front of you have the meeting from the May 22nd 2019 minutes. I would move their approval with one addendum, having a conversation with the chair and what I'd like to do is go back under the conversation about the alcohol beverages and insert some language from the transcript with respect to the conversation we had around distance to parking and security for folks that were walking to parking so we can make that a form of part of the adopted minutes that the Commissioner and Brian expected that as well. Mine was a little more specific to the bottom of page 5, the reference to what I had asked of IEB. It was not a general request on input. It was specifically their historical experience with MGM's 2-4 alcohol service so I just asked them to reflect that at the bottom of page 5. Okay. I just had a very small one but I'd like to reflect on page 7 when I met, when I, in the almost last paragraph, I thank Mr. DeSalvi and Ms. Crum for their work in keeping the commission informed but also for the work they're doing in getting the casino on time. So it's not just for their information but for their work. Second? Aye. Item number three please, our administrative update from 2nd Director Petroge. Good morning, commissioners. Good morning. So I have two updates, a general update and a staffing update. I'll start with the general update. I am pleased to tell you that the Encore opening is going at a hectic but controlled pace. Thanks to our new gaming agent on the property, Luis Lozano and his team. All the slots have been verified and sealed with state seals. There are about six of them who were still having some challenges communicating with the knock but we had anticipated getting that resolved relatively quickly. I talked to Scott Hellwick in our gaming technology department. So that's a good place. That's not just to be clear. That's not just the work of our folks. That's work of the Encore folks who cooperate with us on that also. So that was a great team effort. We will now turn our attention to the game agents will to table games and they would expect that they could get table games verified all in about a week. So we're right on schedule. In addition, with our gaming agents and Mr. Curtis licensing, we'll work on alcohol inspections. We have a great relationship with ABCC. We're doing a walkthrough with the Encore staff and ABCC later next week and anticipation of opening also. So Mr. Zimba and Mr. Delaney are working very hard on commitments. I was over at the property with them yesterday and they stayed after I left to work on making sure all the commitments are verified and that I think all this will be reflected in a meeting. I anticipate having before you next week in which the directors in their specific areas will come and tell you what has been done and what might still be outstanding needed to be done in the weeks leading up to opening. So I would say in general, we're in a good spot, but there is a lot of work, a lot of documentation to get to the commission. And it's, we can do it, but it's going to take everyone's effort and cooperation. The Encore folks have been terrific in that cooperation. So thank you to them. I do have a little bit of an anecdote. I was walking around the property yesterday and I walked into Rare, which is the steakhouse. And there was a woman dressed in a server's uniform. And she walked up to me and we were talking about the condition of the property. And she asked me what I did and I explained to us with the Game and Commission and what our response was. And I asked her what she did. I assume she was a server within Rare. Turns out she was a banquet server. And in conversation, she said, you know, ever since I voted for the casino in Everett, I've been looking for that. So I said, Oh, you're Everett resident. She says I am an Everett resident. And it turns out that she has been a banquet server at most of the major hotels in Boston and the Seaport. And she couldn't contain her enthusiasm about having a job in her backyard. And being really excited, she even said, you know, I had a four o'clock. What the term is, but she had to show up at four o'clock. And she said I woke up at three o'clock and I was all in I was it was great. So so she was she four a.m. She said so in what kind of banquet is that? Early breakfast. Early meeting. But she was, you know, super enthusiastic. And, you know, I know that's just an anecdote. But it was it was certainly the person I ran into that day. It was a nice anecdote. So speaking of happy employees, I'd like to introduce or tell you about some of our staff who's grown since I have done the last of these, which is was is in February of last year. So I'm going to give you the list of our new employees, some of whom are here, many of whom are gaming agents that are out doing exactly what I just described. But let me start with someone you've probably seen here at these meetings for a while. David Bumpas, who's sitting right over here is our new digital communications coordinator. He started in April of this year. Welcome, David. Austin, I'm sorry. Well, I'm sorry. It's David Austin. We go. It's the legal we do. We go with we go with legal names. Two months I've been calling him by the wrong name. Hoster. DA. There we go. Alright, David, that's a free lunch. We have had a luxury of getting to know Austin. Well, so thank you, Austin. Vivian show. Well, who we see out front. Thank you, Vivian. Excellent. And another official welcome. That's right. And a recent hired Noelle Lowe was a senior revenue account. Excellent. Let me do a couple more work here and then I'll do the gaming agents. Matt Jordan is a new financial investigator. Matt hails from Alaska. So he came to us from Alaska. He came here for the weather. I think. Yeah, just just a little little bit of a change. So welcome, Matt. Tamara and O'Connor, who's an IT operations coordinator. Thank you. And finally, the last one here is Conor McCourt, who's a licensing specialist one. And those folks who are working really hard to get our licensing done for on court. So thank you, Conor. For gaming agents, we have David Diorio, Mary Porter, Diane Potolac, Matthew Kelly, James Morel, Joseph Ford, Martin Edwards, Colin McGahn, and Sean Murphy. For supervising gaming agents, we have David Diorio, Mary Porter, Jolene Bingham, and Darren Fenske. So that's obviously a lot of folks. We've been ramping up for the additional Region A responsibility. And I think that's also reflected in that. The other thing you probably know about is we've expanded our game enforcement unit with the state police, and also this time with Everett police. So we have a combined unit of state troopers and Everett folks who are and were on the property yesterday continue will be on the property now 24 seven. So that's a another good work with Everett police. Many of us, many of us who were on course in the past know some of the Everett folks, including the chief. So it's a it's a long relationships. So I think that'll be a great thing for us. Do you have the numbers? Yeah, I so I think it's 12 and six. Yeah, I think it's 12 and six with Lieutenant Tim Babin, being the GU Lieutenant for that for the Angkor property, you may remember, Tim started in Springfield, moved here and Ronnie Gibbons ended up, he was a Sergeant Springfields now Lieutenant ended up backfilling out the Springfield. I think team started in Blainbridge and then moved here. Yeah, he did. He did start exactly. So so great. Yeah, so the good news is our senior management has that depth. So I think the overall message is both our preparations for the opening of Angkor and our staffing for the opening of Angkor are on schedule, but it will still be a lot of work. And I hope you will see that reflected in the presentation next week. That's all I have. Thank you. Well, we'd like to extend a warm welcome to our newcomers. We thank you for being part of this team and hope that it's a warm and comfortable welcome for you. And for those who have been engaged in Vivian, I know that you're enjoying yourself and that smile shows it every day. We thank you for your service. Thank you. And Austin, we'll keep in mind the two names. Alrighty, just a clarification. Janice, are we staying on course right now? Okay. We are going to move item that was originally enumerated as number seven on our agenda up front to accommodate our visitors. So we'll start with Director Griffin, please on workforce, fire and diversity department and welcome our on our friends. Good morning, Bob. Good morning. Good morning, Chairwoman and commissioners. Good morning. So I'm joined today by Bob DeSalvio and his team. I'm actually going to let him introduce his team. And then I have some questions for you. Good morning, Madam Chair and commissioners. Thank you for the time this morning. We are very pleased to be here to present the overall regional and what turns out to be worldwide and international marketing plan. And I am joining today my far right, Danielle Ashhurst, who's our assistant director of travel industry sales and Joe Nesnald, who is our executive director of hotel sales and catering for the presentation. And then also, I think Martha Sheridan is on her way over. Martha is the president CEO of the Greater Boston Convention and Visitors Bureau and will be stopping by as well. And so she's been an important part of the equation for us. Good morning, Jackie. So by way of background, the regional marketing plans submitted by on core Boston Harbor is intended to fulfill pre opening requirements of license condition 15. In addition to other requirements in chapter 23, condition 15 requires the licensee to produce regional tourism and marketing plan in consultation with the regional tourism council and the mass office of travel tourism subject to approval by the commission. And the plan includes but is not limited to making space available in the gaming establishment for state and regional tourism information. The website, a joint marketing program with the regional tourism council and staff training in regards to the plan and the sharing of visitors data to the tourism council. The plan was required to be provided to the commission at least 90 days prior to the anticipated commencement of operations, the gaming establishment. And on for satisfied this requirement. Section three, license condition or refer to business development, including in recognition of the unique cultural, historical and entertainment attractions located in the city of Boston. And throughout the region, when she'll develop and maintain a proprietary concierge program for the purpose of cross marketing use attractions. And I think you've seen some of these requirements illustrated in the plan. As you are all aware, tourism promotion is an important part of chapter 23 today as well. And this is evidenced in section one, area six, which states promoting local small businesses and the tourism industry, including the development of new and existing small businesses. And tourism amenities such as lodging, dining, retail, cultural and social facilities is fundamental to the policy objectives of this chapter. So I won't go on. Some of the other requirements are in the memo that I did want to outline the process. Staff and we received staff received the first version of the plan, the draft on March 7. And I met, I had several meetings regarding the plan with Martha Sheridan, President of the Greater Boston Convention and Visitors Bureau, and with Assistant Secretary for Business Development and International Trade, and the newly appointed Executive Director of Mass Office of Travel and Tourism, Kiko Korov, and Encore, based on the feedback provided from this group, submitted a revised version of the plan on March 24. And commissioners, no vote is planned today for the plan, but instead plan for the June 12th. So with those comments, unless you have questions, I'll turn it back. Any questions? Great. Thank you again. We have divided the plan really into three different sections. And Danielle's gonna start in just a moment with the how we invite the world to visit Massachusetts. Then Joan has a section that really talks about sharing the best of Massachusetts with the rest of the world. And then I'm going to jump in at the end and talk about infrastructure because it takes quite a bit for this to happen by way of property and regional infrastructure. So with that, I'm going to turn it over to Danielle for the first section. Good morning, Madam Chair and Commission. Good morning. Good morning. Thank you for having us. And it is my pleasure to represent Encore Boston Harbor internationally. Our philosophy as a company is to look at regional tourism with a global approach. So we're very excited to go out into the world and not only present Encore Boston Harbor with this amazing state of Massachusetts and everything that guests can do while they're here with us. We're very excited to get out there and this amazing state and region. First, we'll start with you utilizing our global network between our properties in Las Vegas and in Macau. We've got a dead base over 10 million brand loyalists. So we are able to market to them as often as we like. And our newest property has been very palatable to the guests that have enjoyed our properties in Las Vegas and Macau. And so we do have some representation in some of the markets as well. So as you can see, we have representation in California, Canada and throughout Asia, which is quite a large market for us to really push the efforts of Encore Boston Harbor and get people excited about the state of Massachusetts. I've been out a lot. The response I always get is, Oh, I love Boston. When's the last time you've been here? The more I talk about experiences here that guests can have, the more excited the folks get. And then the fact that we've got something familiar for them with Encore Boston Harbor, they're very, very, very excited to come to this place. Another way we're able to utilize our network is our win magazine. This magazine is not only in all of the guest rooms, so every single guest that stays in any of our resorts will have complete access to the one magazine. And of course, we'll be featuring the opening of Encore Boston Harbor. And this magazine is solely to not only promote the resorts, but also locations that are in. So Boston will be a large focus for us moving forward. And of course, we'll showcase what we've got on site, but maybe showing where our boats will take the guests to as well through the city and having some dining tips outside of what your normal expectations are and giving some hidden gems for the region. So we're very excited to present this. And for anybody in the audience next time you're in the airport, pick one up and that's the news. We've got it there as well. So globally sourced entertainment is my favorite. We do some really amazing activities on property. My favorite being the Lunar New Year, or more notably known as Chinese New Year throughout all of our properties in Las Vegas, Macau and here in Encore Boston Harbor. We're very excited to do the dragon dance, which is an over the top experience for guests to come in. So we do have guests from all over the world. And it's incredibly important for us to share and to celebrate different cultures. So we're excited for the Lunar New Year dance Brazilian independence will have a Diwali celebration, of course the Patti's Day. And Cinco de Mayo is on there, not Mexican independence, but we do celebrate both. So Mexican Independence Day is actually September, September 16. We do a large celebration for Mexican Independence Day as well. So very excited to not only bring cultures together, but highlight some of the great cultures that our guests are very proud of. And maybe our guests while they're in house will learn something new about a culture they weren't used to. I should say that that's something that often gets confused by the way, that you're in Mexico. Yes, I had to point that out. So we're at Encore Boston Harbor, my my position is again to promote tourism domestically and internationally. But I'm one person, I've got myself and one other one other team member. So we as a company have continued with our sister properties in joining preferred hotels and resorts. Preferred hotels and resorts is a representation company and they represent us on six different continents. We're still working on Antarctica. But every single every single major city has a preferred hotels and resorts representation person in office. And right now their sole focus is Encore Boston Harbor and Boston. We will actually have the president and CEO of preferred hotels and resorts next week and to check out the site and come and experience Boston so that way as they're going out and speaking with their team members, they'll have a full experience as well. There is a list of where some of the cities are at very, very large present in Asia, but also throughout Europe, South America, Canada, Mexico, and then of course here in the States. Personally, I am able to go out and travel with preferred hotels and resorts and this year I've been to four continents and we're only to June. So it's a really, really great opportunity to have some folks in market to get me in front of the right people to do mass presentations to discuss this property and this beautiful region. Red card. So if you've been to a Bruins game, the Celtics game, gotten to the socks games at Fenway, you might see our big red card booth, which red card just builds our brand loyalty. We have been a company since the early 2000s, first opening in April 2005 as win resorts and our red card has constantly engaged our guests to be a part of our culture. So red card is gaming focused. So the minute guests come in, whether they spend a dollar or a thousand dollars, they could be a part of our red program, red card program and they'll receive offers for the property and of course big focus on Boston. So we will be sending out marketing offers to our database of 10 million and growing and get everyone excited about this new project and location. And lastly, I want to introduce you to familiar familiarization trips. So familiarization trips in flight, influencers, discerning clientele and travel professionals into the location of the resort and familiarize them with everything we have to offer. So an example of a fam trip in the industry, we call it a fam, we would invite guests in for a sight tour of the resort and then a breakfast, lunch or dinner and then an offsite activity. So we've already had a lot of fun going to events around the city and duct tours and presenting Boston as a new city for this resort. And what it does is a lot of people think when we open up a hotel, we just sell the hotel. But we sell the destination first because the guest has got to want to come to Boston and then we'll let them figure out where they'd like to lay their heads. But at the end of the day, there's no greater passion in going out, selling this great city, letting everybody be excited about it and then say, well, I've got killer hotel rooms as well. So what we do is we invite our travel professionals to come out, really experience, immerse themselves in this market and then they can go back out to wherever they come from in the world and sell it to their guests from a first hand experience. Because I guarantee you you will take a recommendation from a friend before you go a stranger. So they go out into their own markets and they do a really great job. So we look forward to bringing them. Thank you, Danielle. And now I'm going to turn it over to Joan. She's going to talk about sharing the best of Massachusetts with the world. Good morning, chair and commissioners. Good morning. Good morning. I do want to continue with the tourism campaign and talking about how our goal is to create, of course, memorable experiences for our guests, not only in the resort, but of course in Boston, in the region and across the state. So this plane will outline some of those initiatives. We know that when guests come and stay at our resort, they're not just staying here. They're staying two or three nights. So we know they're not going to just, even though there's lots to do there, that they're also going to explore Boston and the region. And we want them to encourage them. And as Danielle said, as we go out on the road, we're selling the destination first and then resort. We understand the importance of supporting the local businesses and having the guests experience and explore all of these businesses as well. So the grand opening marketing campaign introduces Boston Harbor as something completely new and different for New England. And in my role, I have also gone out on the road quite a bit with Martha's here from the Boston CVB. And we've teamed up with her team and done domestic shows, client events, where we introduced Boston as well. So we've really partnered very well together in going out on the road. This property is truly unique to Boston, as you know. Meeting planners are thrilled to hear about this, that there's something new and different. And this truly is a demand generator. We have a meeting planner now that are headquartered here in Boston. And they're actually, they've never held their convention here. They've always held it at the win Las Vegas because they're too large for most of the hotels here. But once they heard we were coming here, they were so thrilled. And for the first time, they'll be holding their event here in September. So and of course, they're bringing 400 or 500 people and will be ready for them to explore Boston as well. I believe we actually only have, we have the only pairing of a major city in a major, major five star luxury resort. There really isn't another city when you think about it in the country that has this type of a five star casino resort in a major city outside of Las Vegas. I don't know that's really a major city, but of the major cities, there really isn't when you think about it. And I mean, planners are telling us this too as well. We have also just completed a TV commercial airing next week, which will be kind of a teaser campaign for us. We just finished shooting that yesterday. So the grand opening marketing campaign is a multi million dollar grand opening campaign, which consists of TV, print, radio, outdoor, digital and paid social. It actually starts June 10th. It'll cover some of these feeder markets that you see here, the Cape Providence, Newport, Portsmouth, Manchester, Worcester, Hartford, and then even in the outlying areas in New York and Westchester. So we're really trying to obviously get outside of this, this regional area as well. Also on June 21st, we're holding what's called a media day. And we'll have about two to 300 media from domestic that will be focused on New York, Chicago, L.A. and regionally that are coming in to tour the property and also hold a news conference with Bob and interested in questions. And then on the 22nd, Martha and her team are going to show them, give them a tour of Boston as well. And then on the 23rd of July, we're looking to have the Japanese media join us for another tour as well. So we're also have some outreach to the international media. As far as booking the resort, it really starts pre before they even come to Encore Boston Harbor as experienced. We have 19 reservations agents that are trained on the Boston region very well on their offerings. We have weekly fact sheets that the concierge works with to train them and give them all of the facts about the area as well as restaurant offerings. So they have a whole list. We also have a link to the Massachusetts Office of Travel and Tourism as well as the Boston CBB link that are both on our website. So all the facts are there during the reservation process in case any questions come up and we can answer those and help them find all kinds of things to do outside of the resort as well. Also, Martha has offered to facilitate some training with our folks in the reservation center as well as the front office. So thank you, Martha, for offering to do this and train them as some of the sites as well. We have quite an extensive concierge services as well. Mark Simio, he's been in the industry about 23 years. He's our chief concierge. And I don't know if you've ever heard of this organization, but we have nine concierge professionals, but three of them actually three of them represent an organization called Clay Clay door, which it means golden the golden keys and it's the ability to open doors. It's a very elite organization. You have to have many years of service, comprehensive testing and prove beyond beyond the doubt that you really understand the service and the quality. So it's a very high standard for our guests and we're really very excited to be able to showcase the city with these concierge folks. They are also a member of the greater Boston concierge Association, which they attend their monthly meetings. And then when they come back, they will have depart into departmental meetings and review all of the details and new new new findings about Boston, Boston, and they have developed strong relationships also with the Massachusetts Chambers of Commerce. Three of your nine. But that three of your nine three of the nine are part of that this really elite organization. Yes. But all of them do attend the the Association meetings. I think it's just great that there's opportunity for them to take sound. Exactly. And they're they're also responsible for course training the call center and the front office representatives with local and regional knowledge. We'll have also what's called ambassadors besides concierge that are out roaming in our lobby and anyone that stops and can ask questions. We don't really have kiosk because we're a five star service and we really want that personalized service with our guests. So we actually want to talk to them rather than say go over to a kiosk. So we want to find out what they're looking for and really personalize that service. As far as partnerships with area restaurants. I think you've heard for Telly Restaurant Group. We have that North End restaurant for Telly's between brothers and Frank de Pasquale was in Nicarano have partnered together and opening up this fabulous North End restaurant in our resort. We've also partnered with big night entertainment group Randy Greene Stain and Ed and Joe Kane. And of course I'm sure you're familiar with their proper with their with their facilities the scorpion bar red lantern and empire will have a mystique which is similar to empire with the Asian cuisine fusion and that open concept kitchen. And then memoir which is a really fun night club as well. We also will be partnering with a lot of the local food vendors and businesses. Warren Richards and our executive chef Joe Liebowitz are from the wind Las Vegas and they have been here for over two years and really have immersed themselves into the community to partner with a lot of these local food businesses such as Island Creek oysters which will serve in our oyster bar. Iggy's bread New England charcuterie. So there's a whole list here. And they continue to to expand on that list and to grow that partnership. And it's very important that we do this. That was going to be my question. So this will be an ongoing effort. Absolutely. And along with the food there's a beverage program that we are supporting through our partnerships. The Lord Hobo is working hand in hand with our with our on Corb Boston Harbor. They actually have created a New England style beer specifically for our property that they will package and sell to retail stores after we open as well. And what is that going to be called you know. Is that the Lord. I don't know what the name of it is of yet but they are working on that. I'm sure they'll come up with some unique names. Then there's Boston Harbor Distillery and Privateer Rum which is located in Ipswich. On the next page is just continued with some more of the local craft brews that we are partnering with. Our poem Sam Adams and we'll be serving all of these local beers in our venues. Partnership also with Boston Harbor now which is to promote the accessibility along the harbor front. Jim Folk I'm sure you know him. He's our executive director of transportation. He's on the advisory board. They've been a very big help to us in designing the wonderful amenity of the harbor walk that goes around the property we're very excited to have to showcase that to the public. They've worked very hard with us on the environmental findings and provided guidance. And they've conducted we've conducted a water transportation study with them as well. We'll have most of the regularly scheduled boats that go into the seaport in the financial district which I know Bob is going to talk about in a little while. We have a partnership with the Mystic River Watershed Association which is a vision of connecting 25 miles of bike and pedestrian pathways. Eric Hansen is the chief sustainability officer on our team who is on the board of directors with the Watershed Association. They've conducted regional mystic greenways vision creating more accessibility around the Mystic River. They've come up with the living shoreline if you're familiar with that. That is on our property so and that's coming along very nicely as well. The vision is to develop the future plans for the parks pedestrians paths bike routes accessibility and engage in thousands of community members to to showcase this developing plans through this study can support the future development that will be well received by the community. Sports venues as you might imagine sports aligns well with our customer demographic. Therefore we're partnered with some of the wonderful Boston sports teams and we also have a contract for suites at TD garden Gillette Stadium and Fenway Park where we often entertain customers I know for my staff and meetings and conventions. We have taken we've used it a couple of times already in the Fenway we can bring in we bring in about thirty five forty of the meeting planners and entertain it's a great way to network and showcase the city as well. We engage in the Bruins sponsorship also with the Stanley Cup where we sponsored the entertainment light show. Another great membership that we have of course is with the Boston Chamber of Commerce. We sponsor their annual dinner and meeting and dinner and Bob DeSalvio is co-chair of the hospitality and tourism leadership council. Bob attends quarterly meetings. He's that they bring in speakers on various industry topics and of course one of the important ones is transportation. Other members memberships that we are participating on the next page. Other chambers Everett Malden Somerville. Chelsea John Taco who's our executive director of government and community relations is on the board for the Everett Chamber and very involved with that chamber as you might imagine and we're start we're getting more involvement with the other chambers as well. As we move along. Other membership statewide tourism the encore where in discussions with the mass office of travel and tourism so you mentioned Kiko Oro who's the executive director Annie Maloney the chief of staff and Maria spirit spirit that goes to the director of international public relations. They've all come out to the property we gave them a tour and I've been in contact with Kiko and she's in the process now she's new as you know and she's developing her strategic plan and we're going to get together on June 17th and discuss that plan with her and how we can partnership on certain initiatives. And of course Martha with the Boston conventions center and visitors bureau along with the Boston convention and marketing center as we had mentioned before we have engaged with them on many of their client visits of client events and trade shows as we go around the country and even internationally we just came back from Frankfurt from a big trade show that was out there and in the fall we do a Barcelona so we really are international as well as domestic and also we Danielle is on the committee for the Chinese marketing committee as well as well and we also are working we have taken out some ads in some of the local the destination guide as well since we know that goes out to thousands of meeting partners partnership on the regional tourism board their greater Merrimack Valley convention and visitors bureau in the north of Boston convention and visitors bureau we are in the process of joining we've been speaking with them and they are actually sending out an introductory email for us next week to their thousand membership for the north of Boston convention bureau and we are setting up tours with them and meeting with their staff and seeing how we can partner better together as well for the neighborhood organizations friends of the Navy yard which is to improve the quality of life of the residents and businesses and visitors in the Charleston area along with the Gihau 10 or association which is a community group in Chinatown that we support their efforts as well we've entered into a gift certificate program as part of our commitment and we will have we will purchase one hundred twenty five thousand dollars worth of gift certificates from the cities of Everett Maldon Medford and Somerville and we're in the process of selecting those restaurants and entities that we will have certificates from and the certificates are to provide to your customers so that they can in our employees the we save program for local businesses we're partnering with the so that we can offer opportunities to provide discounts to our employees so actually this is great for the local businesses because they get to be in front of five thousand employees and and offers their services and products we're in process of obtaining these businesses right now and gathering up what those discounts will be we're already secured some Boston sports club Carter's Day cleaners Darrell's corner bar and kitchen so we have a whole list and that will be an ongoing process as well. Is is there a way to help small businesses in the area understand what your expectations might be for that we save programs so that they're not ready when you come visit they can kind of move to a position. Absolutely. Yeah Martin Tennant is in our he's our director of learning and he's played an active role along with the human resources group and along with John Taco to go out and really try to promote the buying power of these five thousand team members they will spend you know and since right now the major concentration are all local. I think the last number I saw was something in the range of eighty five percent really fairly close in the buying power of those folks with local businesses will be extremely strong so we'll go out there we'll work with them we want to we want them to present you know to give something for the employees by way of some sort of a discount to help encourage it they all seem very happy to do it so I think this program will start and then just keep growing over time expected to spread over the years to many businesses it's actually worked quite well for us in Las Vegas. If I could add John Taco presented to the commission's vendor advisory and chambers and cities are very excited about this program because there's a low bar to an entry there's no cost it's an easy way for them to advertise and get new customers so there's a lot of excitement about this and will there be a way to measure the success metrics that will the local partners be willing to keep track the foot traffic that they get. There's a there's a code that we would have to offer as an employee to access that discount so they'd be able to see how it's going. Hosts and surrounding community best festivals that we also support the Village Fest and Everett and the SS Cosmos and Damien Society Italian Festival we sponsored the headlining events for both of these events and of course encourage attendance and support it very much as well and I'm sure there's going to be I know there's lots of festivals and events that go on in Boston and these are to right now and I'm sure we'll be participating in sponsoring others. The Massachusetts State Lottery. This week that we've been we've installed all of the lottery equipment in the building and if approved on Car Harbor is it will expand and the lottery reach installing eight lottery terminals I guess in on Car Watson Harbor but we have installed lottery. Including the keynote the keynote equipment in the on deck facility as well they put that in this week. It's going to be on deck is that the burger yes that's excellent and you've been working with Director Sweeney. Yes actually Jackie Crom has been spearheading the effort with the lottery it's going quite well. Another partnership that we invented into is with the Museum of Fine Arts. We've sponsored their to let the track exhibit and our employees are you know we give them free admittance as well as the Everett residents. Other cultural institutions that we share the best of Massachusetts the Box Center Boston's landmark orchestra and the Boston Symphony Orchestra as well where we sponsor their company of Christmas at Pops. So just one question to return to your arts program. We have the benefit of the tour during just a few weeks ago when we were still required to wear construction hats and we met the gentleman who was responsible for the arts program at your facility which is highlighted recently in the globe. Your facility alone will be given opportunity to your patrons and other visitors to learn about the art there. And I think you have a plan to maybe institutionalize that absolutely. Yeah we're currently working on to start. We're going to do we're doing a complete inventory of all of the wonderful art features within the resort and they'll be cataloged and put into the form of a printed piece so that people will be able to go around. I'm hoping one day to expand that further and maybe even do I'd love to do an audio tour someday that people could either do with an app which would probably be the easiest way to do it but for now we're going to we're going to make sure that that that book is ready to go and that for those that are interested in the arts they literally could walk around the property and enjoy it as if it's our own art museum internally. Waiting for Popeye. Yes he is right. Popeye is in route. When when does when does look like around June 10th or 11th he should be arriving. Yes. Yeah he's been. Yes. He left the building in Vegas. Thanks Joan I am going to talk for a few minutes about infrastructure because it's wonderful what the ladies and their teams are working on but at the end of the day moving folks in and around the region and making sure they can get to some of these wonderful attractions is the key. You've heard me speak previously about our multimodal transportation program where we partner up with the T for shuttle service from both Wellington and Maldon Center. The new bus stops we just completed the new bus stops on Broadway right in front of the property and we're already getting word that people have figured out that you can even get out at Sullivan Square and jump on a number of bus lines and your first stop when you when you leave Sullivan Station and head north on Broadway is right in front of us so people have said that you know they get on the bus and they're there in five minutes. So it's really working well in terms of interconnecting with public transit. Of course our neighborhood shuttle just started this week and we've already got ridership on that. The premium parking ride will begin right at our opening and will be in Mulberry and Rockland Park and then up at London Dairy in New Hampshire can't wait to start that service. The premium harbor shuttle service we had one of our vessels out with the Coast Guard this week doing its inspections minor list of things that they're working on and then the second and third boat will be out as well. All of that will be time with our planned opening so those vessels will be in service. We can't wait to show that off to the public. I think that's going to be a wonderful opportunity and we're focusing on our three stops one being of course on Corbust and Harbor the other being Long Wharf North and the third being the World Trade Center out in the Seaport. You know as part of our plan we are joining the Transportation Management Association's a better city and the Transportation Management Association. All of that with the idea of sharing best practices and understanding how we can do things better to move people around. It can involve car pooling and van pooling and distributing materials and guaranteed ride home. All of the things that help us make our place truly mass transit oriented development which has always been one of our goals. Creating infrastructure. Bob if I could just interrupt I don't know if this is a great time and you can correct me if you'd like to address that later. But there have been questions around the parking for employees this past week. Sure. And I think that it's probably fair to say that the Commission itself is not really fully briefed. I don't know if you're in a position to brief us on sure I'd be I'd be happy to address. Yeah it's perfectly fine because we're on infrastructure. Yeah. As you probably know we made arrangements for parking at Wellington. Wellington is actually a very important transportation hub for that for us. And so we've got we built and just recently opened a brand new shuttle location within the MBTA's facility at Wellington. It gives us our own island that we share along with a couple other local businesses that have shuttle service at the same time we made significant improvements in and around the station paving and lighting and crosswalks to make that a better place. So naturally it's a wonderful spot to intercept both guests that are and employees that are riding on the orange line and those that want to park. You've also heard previously in our meetings that that station landing area is where we're going to be putting our daycare center as well. So the coordination of orange line plus daycare plus folks that have to park all made sense for us to consolidate a lot of that activity at Wellington. What you heard recently I think is there is a lot of confusion about what's going on. The parking garage in Wellington is subdivided. There is a large part of the garage that is just for anybody who decides to go. But the MBTA also has a in a sense almost like a condominium with inside that garage and floors five six and seven are a deal that was made some time ago where the T has a number of spots that they actually I believe are selling for I think five dollars a day as part of their program. The T also has a very substantial surface lot over at Wellington. And when the announcement came out recently they actually went back to Joe Pasatora who's the T spokesman. And he made the comment that there are still daily and monthly parking passes still available. Their space within the surface lot I know because some of our team members are currently using it. And there's also you know we've obviously we've lived and worked over by station landing for years. So we know that area fairly well. The upper floors of the garage at Wellington are fairly lightly used. And so there is plenty of availability. What happened was the private company that runs the garage there change their some of their policies with regard to monthly passes. But I think the confusion was that folks believed that there was no parking left or that people would now not have an option. And I believe the T cleared that up with their statement. And so I do believe we're OK. We will communicate back. I know we've been in contact with the local community to make sure Jackie and I were just talking about that this morning. So I do think there's some other communication work that needs to be done. But I want to be very clear there is still parking available in those locations. It may be that you buy it differently. But the parking is available and available still through the T at a discounted rate. So I think we'll be OK. I do believe there was a communication issue. No not at all. So it's a great great timing because we're talking about infrastructure. Yes. Yes. So my next my next topic is to talk about people infrastructure because obviously without our wonderful team we would not be able to do what we do. I want to thank Commissioner Stevens for joining us this past Saturday for the graduation of our first group of students from the program that we have nicknamed bed on you along with the Community College. It's official name of course the Greater Boston Gaming Career Institute. But as you know we shorten everything. So they they like to call it bed on you. We had and I think Commissioner you would agree the most enthusiastic graduation that I have been in attendance at for many many years. This was a group of young men and women professionals that are entering kind of a new chapter and career and these students were so excited. Most of them began not only did they graduate on Saturday. They had to show up for work on Monday for their first day of orientation and they couldn't wait to start. It's it's turned out that the program has worked even better than what we expected. As a matter of fact we are still in the process of hiring dealers. Just to give you a general update we have as of Monday four thousand eight hundred people now on the payroll as of this past Monday. We've got about a thousand to go and of that last thousand we put out offers for all but about three hundred. But within the three hundred group a large group that we need still are dealers. So we are revving up next week another section of the the dealer school program and in consultation with Doug Williams who runs our table games in mid July we're going to start yet again another class at the dealer school and we're going to focus that one on a weekend opportunity because we do get a lot of people that are still currently employed and they're interested in maybe switching a career but they can't do the dealer school if it can obviously if there's a conflict with their current paycheck. So we're going to open up a weekend session and we'll get we're I know that sounds surprising but we get a lot of folks that are willing to work there 40 hour work week and then come in on a Saturday and Sunday and do the two days and get this intensive training program done because they know that there's a good career out ahead of them and for those that get involved early in the when we open the opportunity for advancement actually comes quicker. So they're they're very smart bunch. They really know that if they can get in early and they can do a good job when we have openings for supervisory roles that gives them a leg up if they've been it been at the place early. So this has been a smash success Cambridge College amazing partner in all of this and we thank you both Jill Jill's been active in this Jill was out there as well to see this on Saturday. But it was really a great thing for us. Mr. Salvia didn't just about everyone get hired that went through the school. I mean the numbers were really very very high percentage. And the other thing that we did we had a few people that struggled with the class but were wonderful potential team members. And so we encourage them to look for other work even when the within the facility. And so and then yeah there were a few that we did have some folks that didn't quite make it. But you're going to get that it is pretty intense. I will tell you I don't think I'd make it through the dealer school to be honest with you. I can I can do a number of things quick math is probably not at the forefront of it. It's it's a pretty intense program and you have to be willing to do it under pressure. And you think about a Saturday night and having to actively work a game I know you've seen this I have. And it's it's definitely I would be in the camp with you that I don't know how successful I'd be. But you must have tremendous instructors that's so many of those folks were able to be to be successful and move on to the instructor team is amazing. And here is what here is the real surprise. The programs were nine weeks and 14 weeks. But at the end of the program our dealer school was packed after they were done. And what would happen is they would come back to the school almost daily on their own time even though the class was over to practice with each other. Now that tells you something about the passion for the workforce and they're how motivated they are because there are been folks that have probably done the course the equivalent of twice just through coming back over and over again to practice on their own. So it's been very impressive to see. Hospitality recruitment obviously a big part of what we do. You know I've spoken at the previous sessions the we did these massive job events over at the Heinz but that was really only a part of the story we've done smaller events by the hundreds and continue to do them. As I mentioned we still have openings so you know we're telling folks to stay in touch. We have the career center that's still open over at station landing and we'll continue to add more folks. The neat cat program has been a real real positive for us in connecting with some folks for the culinary hospitality training. We had some of the neat cat folks there on Monday who joined us for orientation on our very first day. So we were happy that worked out well. And then there's other hospitality infrastructure and outreach with all of the schools and programs that are in the surrounding area that we'll maintain with including the tech high schools which have been a great part of what we do between now vocational schools, community colleges. There are hospitality programs sort of growing in leaps and bounds all over the place and we'll partner with all of them. And so with that I want to either turn it back over to Jill, open it up for questions for any of us and maybe even you want Martha. Martha, thank you so much. I know we changed the time on you a couple of times today. But thank you for coming over and if you wouldn't mind saying a few words and introducing yourself to the commission. Good morning. I'm Martha Sheridan. I'm the president and CEO of the Greater Boston Convention and Visitors Bureau. I am five months into the job and have had the privilege and pleasure of working for many, many years alongside Joan and Bob in our previous role. So I know them well and I know the caliber of resort that they will manage and sell. And I'm delighted to say that they have jumped in with both feet in working with us to promote this great destination. And for us, that's particularly important. You know, the tourism industry and mass is somewhat under-resourced as when it comes to promotional investment from the state and city level. So for us to have this incredible infusion of national and international promotion by Encore on behalf of not just their property, but more importantly, the region and the state is, I can't even begin to tell you how valuable this will be to our efforts. I know Joan mentioned how we are a unique proposition here now that Boston is in our minds one of the only major gateway cities in the country that has this caliber resort casino adjacent to it. And I think that makes us very, very uniquely positioned to draw new and unique visitors to the market. And I've been in this business for 30 years. I've worked very closely in Rhode Island with the Twin River Casino. I was on their advisory board and also worked closely with Fox Woods and Mohegan Sun. And all three of those entities do a nice job of integrating into the community. But I'm not sure we've seen, I've seen it at this level. And it's been, Joan has been part of our team, really, our sales team for several years now. And it's been great for us to have that kind of added infusion of interest in our trade show booths. She draws new people over to our booth, which only helps all of the small businesses that participate in our trade shows. So from our perspective, we are very, very excited. And I know a lot of times when resorts like this get built in communities, there is actually oftentimes a lot of pushback from the existing hospitality partners. And in fact, I was at a meeting yesterday where the hoteliers that were in the room were talking about how they are actually looking forward to having Encore as part of our mix because they do think it will bring unique visitors to our community and expose those visitors to all of the other assets that they can take advantage of at future times. So I can't say enough about what the partnership means to us. I met with Joan and the head of public relations from Wynn yesterday in planning for the media tour and great partnership there. The fact that they will be bringing in, we could never do this on our dime. 200 members of the travel and trade press into this market. We can't put a dollar amount on that. And the fact that they will support our efforts to bring them outside of their casino, which is not the typical case in that world is beyond what we can put a figure on. So we're excited to continue this relationship and really look forward to the caliber of customer they'll bring to our community and the fact that many customers will come to Boston and actually stay in other hotels because they want to experience the casino for a half a day or a day. So I know we focus a lot on bringing customers in and staying in the casino itself. But I think sometimes we lose sight of the fact that now we will have people that'll be interested in staying in the greater Boston area in other properties that want to take advantage of the casino and its amenities while also spending money in the city. So nothing but great things to say about this the start of this partnership. And I've had the privilege of seeing and working alongside them on many aspects of this plan. And my constructive input has been well taken and certainly included in the plan as it relates to how we'll work with their internal staff in educating them about all there is to do in the community. So I want to thank them for that. So thank you for having me. Thanks very much Martha for your support all the way through. It's been a great partnership. Questions. Yeah I would just like to jump in. The plan looks phenomenal. I also got a credit Jill and Crystal because you had the obligation to get the plan reviewed. Martha was transitioning in director oral were transitioning in. So you actually had predecessors and successors all looking at the plan and offering their kind of input. But it was great to meet Martha and say here you're going to look at this and sign off. But we appreciate your help. The transportation piece has always been interesting because we've always talked about how it gets people to your property. But it's exciting to see you're thinking about it as a way to get people off property. It's not just picking up people at the boat stops and bringing them to your property. It's thinking about using those resources to get people back into the city of Boston or the surrounding community. So I thought that was really unique. The workforce piece which we have contributed to through the community mitigation fund oftentimes to address the issue that Martha just raised about folks moving looking for a different career vacating a current employer and how do we help create a pipeline to backfill that I think it's important to remind people it's going to be ongoing. There will be people that will quickly realize that maybe a casino business is not where they want to be. So people who thought, hey, I'm not going to be employed on June 23rd, I've missed my opportunity. They shouldn't think that way and you highlighted the fact that you're still going to have some gaming classes going on. That's really important. I do have to say we had a workforce meeting about two weeks ago or last week that Jackie and Jenny attended and to see the level of participation around the table from regional employment boards, the mass hire work career centers, plus all of the communities, Boston, Chelsea, Somerville, all around the table, a lot of community based organizations all with a simple goal of providing folks they work with a chance to find a new career. That was exciting. I also want to take a minute to single you out, Bob, because when we were doing our due diligence when there's a potential licensee, we called around, I called around to some of the CVBs in the area where you came from. Without mentioning you by name, you just say what's your relationship with Beth Wilhelm Sands and they said, oh my God, Bob DiSalvio was great. He jumped on board. He got the rest of the board and some of the hangers on to actually step up and contribute, so kudos to you. I was thinking about that story as I was reading through the plan. Lastly, I just want to kind of get on a soapbox a little bit, as you mentioned, director Oral and talking about a strategic plan. I think it's important for everybody to remember that the two biggest development projects in Massachusetts, being on or Boston, Harvard, King, MGM, are designed to bring people to Massachusetts. There would have been no requirement from a hotel if we were just asking them to open up a casino. But these two biggest private development construction projects are meant to bring people in. And by virtue of your presence and success, you're generating revenue for tourism. You're generating it for the mass marketing partnership. You're generating it for the Gaming Economic Development Fund. And I hope we find some leadership around that to say, let's start, to Martha's point about not enough resources. Let's put some money back into the immediate regions of where a casino is located so that we can continue to prime the revenue for other parts of the state as well. So thank you, come off my side. Commissioner Stebbins, you mentioned the workforce folks in the meeting recently. And I was reminded of the early days that I spoke to Attorney Crumb and Director Griffin about this. You know, there was some animosity. I don't think people believed that this would be a real opportunity for them. They had been told that in the past, possibly, and that things didn't work out. So I, you know, just from, I don't know, maybe five years ago, right? When there was real, those meetings were tense and you attended many more than I did, but the few that I did have an opportunity to attend, it's like, wow, this group is just not believing this is a real opportunity. And to hear from the two of you, actually the three of you, that boy, has that changed and people really do believe now that they have opportunities. I think that's a tremendous story in itself. Yeah, if I could just add, that has a lot to do with Angkor Boston Harbor and their relationship with the community groups. In one instance recently, we heard of a community coalition that said, you know, we'd really like you to take a second look at X number of candidates. And they did, and ended up hiring some of the individuals. I mean, it's instances like that that I think have turned folks around. So it's really had to attribute it to Bob and Liste. Thanks, Joe. Yeah, I'd like to mention a couple of things that both commissioners already alluded to, but your plan is really comprehensive and it's really good to hear your presentation today in the context that you put it. Clearly, there's a theme that emerges and that is one of partnerships that you already can corroborate, Martha, and we have also seen in other instances before as you lay out here. I'm also reminded of the time that we awarded the license. I was most impressed about particular points that you mentioned here. Most of the economic development and tourism clearly came under your section, commissioners Stevens, but there was a real nexus into the finance section that I analyzed with the help of our consultants. And that was the fact that significant revenues came from outside of the market area. And the way that we analyzed this was by looking at the resources that you put, or your promise to put, to make those efforts happen. And I'm reminded of one key number, and that was the number of marketing professionals that you have worldwide that you spoke to earlier that are exclusively dedicated to bringing gamers around your properties and other people in terms of tourism. So I think that's a very important part of the overall license here. And I think it's exciting that you are making it happen and you are talking about it and we really look forward to how all of that translates into what you have projected. Thanks, commissioners. Thank you, and we understand that there'll be a vote for this in the future. Thank you. Thank you very much, commissioners. Thank you, everyone. Thank you. Just to, Martha, Bob was gracious to suggest that he owned the change in timing. That was our decision, and we appreciate you being able to be nimble today. I was trying to cover. You were covering, but I accept that, but I did want to accept full responsibility, so thank you for accommodating us. No, not a problem, Joe was quick on the floor. I was able to get here, and I'm here to do something. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you very much, and congratulations on your new position. Oh, thank you. Okay, we'll move on to section seven, oh, I guess for the workforce, but it's Bob is staying in Jackie, we'll move up, and we have Jenny Peterson, I believe, who might be joining us, or no? Jenny's hiring people at the moment. That's excellent. We will go with that, so I have Bob and Jackie who will stay on for the design and construction commitments on diversity. Thank you. Director Griffin. All right. Chairwoman, commissioners, back again. And the topic is diversity pre-opening compliance. And I think as all of you know, staff has been very busy and very diligent in combing through the myriad of commitments and license conditions that are required prior to opening of the casino. And I wanted to present to you today the commitments related to the construction, specifically the diversity in the workforce and the supplier diversity commitments during design and construction of the facility. So, no vote is expected today. Again, the vote will be expected at the next meeting, but I wanted to go through briefly summary, summarize some of those conditions that are in the memo, but the affirmative marketing program for design and construction. So, the licensee, as you know, is required to submit a plan that pertain to minority business enterprises, veteran business enterprises, and women business enterprises for the design and construction of the establishment. And it was required to include a robust public outreach component directed to those businesses. You'll see attachments in the packet of some of the fliers and outreach that are not exhaustive, but an illustration of some of the outreach that Encore has done. So they have satisfied that requirement. Additionally, the affirmative action program for equal opportunity is the provision of a plan, including the public events and outreach for individuals, minority individuals, women and veterans. And Encore satisfied both of these requirements with a single diversity plan. Additionally, their diversity strategy for design and construction, in addition to providing that plan, they adhered to it very well and executed it well. In that plan, they included their project goals for the utilization of minorities, women and veterans on construction jobs, and also likewise, the minority business enterprises, the WBEs and VBEs as well. They followed the requirements regarding reporting, relative to these groups, and attached in your packet is a recent report that they can speak to. Additionally, I just wanted to call attention that we have performed staff, including other staff, have complied with diversity audit, where we went down to Encore. We collected information on certain vendors, certain suppliers and workforce records. We combed through those records. We were really looking for their processes, what kind of management systems they had in place. And we wanted to see how accurate the data was that was presented at the access and opportunity committee meetings. And we found that they had appropriate systems for the collection, tracking and management of this data. And overall, we knew that they were on target with their diversity goals. One of the things that we especially noted was their diligence and the transparency regarding their workforce goals. Their corrective action meetings, their correspondence with the subcontractors, their use of the term style, to double check the accuracy of the data. Or for example, if they noted that a subcontractor all of a sudden their employees, the trades people had decreased in a certain area, they would contact that subcontractor immediately. So that was really noteworthy and something I wanted to call out. So I wanted to stop at that point and see if you had any questions. No vote is expected today. That's a high grade coming from you, Director Griffin. Usually there's some constructive points where things could improve, but as I am as well, it's really impressive, especially the real-time adjustments. Notice some things changed, why and how do we make an adjustment? That's really impressive. So I would point out that they met or exceeded all of the goals with the exception of the women business enterprise for design. And as you know, much of their work was performed by the internal women design team. So that was understandable, but we definitely saw that the licensee gave best efforts. So the design team in Las Vegas has to be a little proactive like we are here? Yes. So do you want me to go through the leader? Okay, morning commissioners. Good morning. Good morning. I think it's always nice when the numbers actually reflect the effort that was put in and I think we're very proud of what we were able to accomplish. A large part of that was, as you mentioned, Commissioner Cameron was staying on top of it on an almost daily basis and reaching out when we saw issues to correct them in real-time. I know you're very familiar with our goals and I'll touch on them as I go through the results. So this is as of the end of April. We are of course compiling the data for the end of May and we will present that obviously at the next occasion, but we haven't seen any significant deviation in the results for May just based on the data that we have to date. So on the design contracts, we awarded 13 contracts to minority business enterprises. We had a goal of 7.9% and we were actually awarded 8.4% for a total of $5.5 million worth of contracts. On the woman business enterprises, we awarded 14 contracts. We had a goal of 10% and this, as Jill said, we fell slightly short here at 8.2 for a total of 5.4. And I think it's actually noteworthy why to look at why we fell short on this. As discussed, a large part of our design work is done throughout internal design team, but I think also a lot of our design work had been contracted before we developed the plan and before we were actually tracking, which is, I think shows the benefit of having the plan in place early and actually tracking it in real time. On the veteran business enterprises, we had a goal of 1% and we exceeded that. We had 6.1% for $4 million worth of contracts and full total contracts. On the construction contracts, we awarded $262.7 million worth of contracts to minority women and veteran business enterprises. We had a goal overall of 11.4% and we exceeded that goal and hit 19.1%. We awarded 81 minority business enterprises contracts. Our goal was 5% and we were at 5.9% for a total of 80.6 million contracts. On the women business enterprises, we awarded 152 contracts. Our goal was 5.4% and we far exceeded that by 12.7% for a total of 174.8 million. Could I stop you there? I mean, those numbers are really impressive. Could you give an example of some of the kinds of contracts? There were 152 contracts with significant dollar amounts. So I'll flip to the next couple of pages. Well, we don't disclose the actual dollar amounts for confidentiality. No, I just mean the total. I was looking at the total. Those are significant numbers. Those are significant and we were able to identify some excellent women business enterprises. I think what we also realized was breaking the packages down into smaller packages allowed companies that could not bid on an entire package as we would traditionally have been able to do so, gave them the opportunity to participate. A lot are local as well, you can see. But it's, I think Jackie hit the nail on the head. It's trying to break up the packages and having them spread to as many businesses as possible is a big help. Yeah, I guess I'm, well, the gravel business, the stone business. Yeah, it was across, it was across, it wasn't, it wasn't sort of soft trade, Michael. It was across the board. Right, great, great work, thanks. So on the veteran business enterprises, we had a goal of 1% and we hit 2.8%. One of the areas that was somewhat more difficult in the veterans world is a lot of veterans don't disclose that they are veterans. So, and there wasn't an official way to do it. So the gaming commission was incredibly useful to us in terms of getting some of these companies registered as veteran owned businesses. So on the construction workforce, we had 5,661,677 hours of work performed by minorities, women and veteran workers. That was a total of 7,354 workers that we had on site. Our goals were 15.3 minority and we achieved 25.3. For a female, it was 6.9% was our goal and we hit 7.2%. That was not without significant effort. I think as I've spoken about before, what's even more important is the number of women that we were able to get into the pipeline that are not reflected on our jobs, but hopefully will be able to work on other construction projects. And then on the veteran, we had a goal of 3% and we hit 5.4%. So if you have any questions for us. Each of you come from other properties or other companies. Have you ever been required to really pay attention to this extent to hiring minority female and veterans? It's always been something that's been talked about. I don't think it's ever been tracked at least in my experience to this extent. And I've never seen the kind of effort that went into it that we've put into it. And I mean, commissioner, I'll add that we had goals in Pennsylvania when I did the project there, but the tracking mechanisms have gotten much more sophisticated. For example, the turnstile program where literally everyone has to go through the safety trailer, get training, get their badge, and we're able to then issue a badge that can then be tracked and monitored on the site, which was wonderful from a lot of perspectives, but between that and really the internal work that was done. And a shout out to John Fish and everybody at Suffolk. They work day in and day out with the subs to really push this. And I think the other major turning point for us was the rewards program and recognition. The fact that we had quarterly awards and prizes, trips to Las Vegas, gift certificates, there's nothing better than having a scorecard. And it works. Agreed, agreed. Director Griffin, in the course of this very successful outcome, were you able to identify any barriers that continue to persist perhaps with the smaller vendors or contractors? I know with respect to design, women are actually doing quite well in Massachusetts. I'm sure they would have loved to have participated, but we understand that you used your own, your own in-house resources. But were there other barriers that you saw with respect to either capital? Yes, I think, so there were, and... Because the outcomes here are excellent, so I don't want to put you on the spot, but I just wondered, because you're so experienced in this area, as there's still a place where in Massachusetts we can continue to support MBEs, WBEs, BBEs in a way that helps them gain capacity to enter. So one of the things, this is a union construction project. And so the firms needed to be union signatory. So that was a limiting factor in some ways, if a firm decided not to participate. So that would be one area during construction. And I think just the size maybe of the business, not everyone had the capacity. So I think generally the same constraints that you might see for other large construction projects. And then the second question I have, I think I understand correctly that the practices that you've employed here might be being adopted on other projects here in Boston and in Massachusetts generally, so I don't know if you can speak to that or not. I could talk about one in particular that Jackie mentioned earlier, and that is the formation of the Girls in Trades Group, which really has spread to be now more statewide. They've had a meeting out in Western Mass. I know that Marianne Ham, a partner with Jenny Peterson is over out at Minuteman Technical School. And they're gonna focus a lot on this. And I think this has a lot of legs and that will be something that the pipeline will continue to grow in the future. And I would say one of the long lasting impacts of this will be the recognition of the incredible work that women do on the job site. And that's a program that has been adopted in Western Mass as well, so that's very exciting. I think this is also a statistic that the construction companies are embracing. So this is a selling point for them and the more that they can do this with other jobs, and the more they can increase this, this is something that they're proud of too. And they're starting to implement on other jobs as well, we've seen. I think one of the things I also would love for you to talk about is equal access once you're on the site in terms of the work hours, because you were describing sort of a dip and a frustration that you had and you dove deeper into the numbers to find out why working hours for some of the women were dropping. And I think that's sort of a deeper probe into not only getting them in the trades, but getting them equal access when they're on site. Helpful, I think, if you could describe that. No, so I think we described this previously in another meeting, but what happened was we saw as the subcontractors were winding up some of their work, what was happening was the numbers were dropping. And what they were doing was letting the senior people on their teams stay on the job and getting rid of some of the more junior people on the team. Of course, given how unions have been for a long time, that meant that a lot of the women that were newly joined to the union were getting laid off before other people. So once we were able to identify that problem, it was a very simple fix. And I think one of the other things that Jenny dealt into was some overtime hours and the availability of overtime tools. And that was something that I think the turnstile and some of your other systems were helpful. Yeah, I can determine anything. All throughout the construction project, we received every, twice a day, we would get a list of every single subcontractor on the site, how many workers they had on the site. And it was in real time, we were getting it as they checked in in the morning and as the second shift happened. So we could track these numbers really, really closely and I think there was a huge benefit. I should add one that maybe Director Griffin is being a little modest about because the access and opportunity committee here I think was a key factor in bringing all the stakeholders together. So everybody has a share and that was also alluded to but sharing that committee, convening it, keeping it on track and keeping everybody engaged was a key success factor in my opinion and you should be recognized for that. Commissioner, thank you. I wanted to note that Encore Boston Harbor attended 45 access and opportunity committee meetings since March of 2015. And these were monthly meetings that I think these may have been the meetings that you were alluding to Commissioner Cameron. They started off a little feisty, let's just say and people weren't trusting one another and at a recent meeting, community groups that had or individuals representing the community who had originally, I think, battled were commending Encore for sticking with it and for, and I actually had to commend Jenny Peterson on your team. She has a remarkable ability when suggestions are presented even in ways that maybe you're a little hostile. She has an ability to see through that and at the next meeting implement and report out and she did a remarkable job at leading the trust of the committee. I think that was key was getting the trust of those individuals. I think a lot of them had experienced other projects where they had the same sort of access and nothing happened. So I think they were very pleased to see that Jenny was taking all of their suggestions and frankly, you have to have buy-in from the very top on this and Bob's been an immense help on that and so he gave her all the support and I think that really drove the numbers. I also want to mention just one more thing that you only mentioned briefly, director Griffin and that is the compliance audit. Our comfort level with the numbers that have been reported all throughout and today is very high based on the work that you and Joe Delaney have done. This was previously discussed at a compliance group that director Bedrosian chairs in more detail but I happen to be a member and it's an important process for us to perform and get comfortable with and your audit has been a really good effort. Great work. Thank you. Really good work. Thank you, commissioner. Thank you. Thank you and that will be a vote again for the future. Correct. Thank you very much. Thank you. Take care. And thanks for all the work that's going on right now. We appreciate it. Thank you. Could we take a quick break? We may. Commissioner Amrique has requested a break. I'm sure my fellow commissioners would enjoy it as well and for our plain rich folks, thank you. Good morning. We understand it was a little bit of a challenge and to get here and we're happy to see you. Do you mind if we just try your patience a little bit longer and we'll take a quick break. We'll return in 10 minutes to all of you just short of noon. Thank you. So we are reconvening our meeting and we are now shifting again on our agenda to original number five for plain rich park casinos quarterly report on Batsman's Yamba, please. And good morning. Good morning. Good morning. Thank you. Is it? Five minutes. It's still before noon, so thank you. Well, good morning, chair and commissioners. So on the commission's agenda today, there are several matters pertaining to plain rich park, including plain rich parks quarterly report for the first quarter of 2019. And then separately under director Griffin's report, the commission is also scheduled to vote on plain rich parks amended workforce plan. So at the end of the quarterly report, I'll ask director Griffin to come take the seat here and we can get those matters done if that is okay with the commission. That's a good plan. Thank you. As the commission recalls, both the workforce plan and a more comprehensive review of plain rich parks compliance with all their commitments was part of the February 28th commission meeting and we went into depth about a number of different matters. They'll be addressed both in the workforce plan and also in the quarterly report. So up first, we're gonna ask plain rich park to present its quarterly report for the first quarter of this year and represent a plain rich park or Lance George general manager, Mike Miller, vice president of operations, Michelle Collins, vice president of marketing, Lisa McKinney is also here to answer any questions you may have. But we're also joined by two new members from plain rich park. And I'm gonna turn it over to Lance and he will also introduce our new members. Thanks. Yes, also with us behind me is Dana Fortney, who is our vice president of finance. I think she's been with us for three months, three months, relatively new and then next to her, we also have Kathy Lucas, who is our new vice president of human resources. She's been with us for three days. Oh wow. Okay. Wow. Wow, thank you. So with that introduction, we'll jump right into it. Touch on revenue and taxes paid, several numbers on the slide. I'll call your attention to just a few. A year over year comparison of the first quarter shows a modest decline in revenue and taxes paid. This decrease was driven largely by the opening of Tiberton Casino and Rhode Island, which opened in September of 2018 would not have impacted last year's Q1 numbers. Softer months in January and February with a more encouraging March. Unpredictable weather in New England and Q1 also plays a bit of a role for us. It's a bit of a wild card. All in for the first quarter of 2019, the combination of taxes paid to the Commonwealth and fees paid to the horsemen at 49% total just over 20 million with gaming revenues just under 41 million. Successful start to 2019 for us. Lottery sales, again several numbers highlight just a couple of them. Q1 2019, total sales of 868,000, a slight decrease of approximately 3%, which is commensurate with the decrease in gaming revenues. Encouraging beginning of the year for us, no material change to the relationship or in the approach. In essence, same number of games or pals, I believe they call them at the lottery, same locations, Kinos in the same location. So we continue to generate significant revenue for, for the lottery. It's been a great story for us from the beginning. Mr. George, I was recently asked that question in a public hearing about why do we think that Plain Ridge has been so successful in this partnership. If I remember correctly, and I know you will correct me if I'm wrong. Sure. It's generated like a 25% increase in lottery sales in the host area. Accurate, in that area. In that area. Yes. So do you have an explanation or the strategy or could you guess? No. No, I'd love to think we were really, really smart, placed them in the right location. Certainly we worked with the lottery in advance of opening on where these should go, the number of them, the locations. But I don't know that I can pinpoint exactly why it's been so successful for us. Would Director Sweeney actually say that they are driven through the PAQ machines in the casino, or is he also pointing to the convenience retail agents that have also seen increased sales? Do you know that? As to where those specific increases is it driven more out of retail or the machines? From convenience stores and retail agents that are outside of the casino. Are they also seeing increased foot traffic because of visitation, or is it strictly the increases coming from the PATs at your location? Good question. I don't know the performance of stores that surround us. Yeah. Well, I just wondered. We did have information about that. We do. They remained pretty steady, which was a good news story because they were worried that they would decrease. But the drive really comes from within. Now, you do a lot of promotions as well with lottery products. Sure. There are times when these sales are increased or inflated, if you will, because we have a relationship or we'll have a promotion for lottery ticket giveaways. Certainly when those jackpots get to a very staggering number, we'll offer those. It's proven very successful for us in the past. But even if you back those numbers out, certainly, it's something we're quite proud of. So the cross marketing promotions are really working. That was my next question. They are. I'm reminded of, and this is what you may be remembering, Commissioner, of a report from our Sigma team that did an analysis of the lottery sales at Plain Ridge. And even though it's a few months ago, I suspect that the dynamics remain the same, especially because of the numbers. And that is that you simply get a lot more gamblers at PPC and they complement and buy also a lottery ticket. And overall, in the region, Plain Ridge is what explains a lot of this stabilization or slight increase in overall lottery sales. And there's some dips in some of the surrounding communities. But I think it's a good report to go back to if we wanted to. It's insignificant, though, Commissioner Currant. Yeah, very small. This is a success story. Yes. And I know that MGM folks are hoping to try to follow your lead. So I ask because, of course, it is a significant mandate in our statutes. So thank you for that. And I understand it's a very small difference, right, for this report today. Correct. So thank you. Thank you. Great efforts. Transitioning to spending in procurement by state. Next two slides will go hand in hand relating to in-state spending. For Q1, 2019, 44%, or approximately 600,000 of the eligible spend occurred in state. The remainder is split among several other states. The decrease to the in-state spend percentage is driven in part by a change to one of our primary food vendors. Penn National as a company and as an organization nationwide is transitioning from Cisco to US Foods. So you will see those dollars in the New Hampshire spend, which I believe is 200 and change. Yeah, 276,000. So 90, 95 plus percent of that is all food related and all driven by the transition from Cisco to US Foods. Local spend digging a bit deeper into the property's procurement for 2019 provided a breakdown of local spending. Approximately 61,000 of PPC's Q1 spend occurred in our local and surrounding communities with the dollar spread between all the communities. Both the in-state numbers and local numbers move materially based on the timing of our capital projects for the year. So if you noticed a significant dip from Q4 to Q1 of this year, I think it was about 800,000. That's driven by some of the capital projects that were undertaken in Q4, most notably the change out of Be Good to Smashburger. Spent about 100,000 in the banquet space upstairs, IT related. So oftentimes we do not get to our capital projects until Q4, but you will see that in Q2. So you will see significant spikes sometimes, and that's why. Vendor diversity is compared to our goals for Q1 and as compared to 2018. Overall, as represented by the first set of ours, 29.5% of our spend occurred with either an MBE, WBE, or VBE. To the right of this is the detail behind that total, which shows a nice increase in the WBE category. This is largely driven by a few in-state WBE vendors, notably Ipswich, Shellfish, Millhench, Industrial Supply, and Kitteridge Food Service Equipment. Good find by Eli and the procurement team. Targets were achieved for both MBE and VBE as well, with a modest decrease and increase, respectively. You guys have been pretty strong, pretty consistent on your vendor diversity, and it's interesting to see that you maintain those numbers, despite not some of it under the locals and being attached to some of your capital projects. So is there operational supplies that continue to be focused on finding some good partners? Agreed, and you've worked with Eli in the past. He's certainly focused on this. He understands the significance. Thank you. All right. Good afternoon, Madam Chair and commissioners. I'd like to share with you our Q1 employment numbers. In Q1 of 2019, we had 461 employees. 315 of those were full-time employees, and that made up 68% of our staff. We had 142 part-time employees that made up 31% of our staff. This is also when we start hiring in our seasonal employees. So we have four seasonal employees. Currently, more now, we're up to 12. But Q1, when we brought them on, we had four. Racing individuals? These numbers compare very favorably to both our prior quarter and the same period Q1 of last year. Looking at our total employee base, our diversity hires made up 27% of the workforce. Veteran hires were 5%. Massachusetts-based employees made up 63% of the workforce while our locally-based employees were 32%. In addition, our current male to female makes remains at 50%. Can I ask a quick question there? I know that you've implemented the Women Leading at Penn program, very impressive program. Has it helped with getting women to, A, apply for promotion, receive promotion, move up into some of the management positions? We had 15 girls that were active in the program, and of that, six of them have been promoted into advanced positions. And I see you're introducing new team members who are at high-level positions, so we welcome that as well? Yes. We want to note that the exact team is now 60% women. Wow. That's the five of us here. Here it is, exactly. What a difference the year makes. Thank you. Great report. Before you leave that slide, remind me the local definition in this slide. Sorry. Local. Right now, local is 32%. Yeah, but is that the host and surrounding communities? Yes. Yeah. Going on to the compliance side, during Q1, our security department checked 20,460 IDs at our podiums, and those ID checks prevented 429 individuals from entering the facility. Of those 429, nine were minors that were turned away, as well as 79 underage individuals. There were also 341 that made up the difference that had either expired, invalid, or no IDs. Also during Q1, there were no fake IDs presented at any level. Finally, during the first quarter of this year, there were no minors or underage individuals found in the gaming areas, gambling within the facility, or found consuming any alcohol. So we do want to know and appreciate the continued diligence that our security team does, as well as all of our employees, preventing the underage individuals. Great. That's really a good report. Usually there's a one or two in there somewhere, and the team is doing a great job with that. Very proud of that section. And with that being done, I'm going to hand it over to Michelle. Good afternoon, Chair and commissioners. Good afternoon. We are going to look at the woman leading at Penn. We just gave you some of the highlights. But for May, we had Ginny Shanks as our guest speaker. She's the former EVP and Chief Administrator, Officer for Pinnacle. And now she's currently working as a strategic advisor for the Penn properties. During her time, she gave lessons on what she's learned in the casino industry while she's been in the business. July, we're going to look at work-life balance, which I think we're all looking forward to. And then as I mentioned earlier, what's important is that we actually track the program. It's very easy to implement a program. It's not easy to get results and actually measure the results. So we're excited to say that, as I mentioned, six of the 15 that were active participants have taken on a new role, either from an hourly to a salary management role to a bigger property to a regional role. So we're very excited about that development. And for those six that are no longer a part of the program at the property, we've just brought in six more from other various departments so that they can participate in the program. Terrific. Good results. And what's nice about that is the results are consistent across the Penn enterprise. So other properties are also seeing the same kind of results. For local community, again, typical to what we normally do each quarter, where we work with various programs. The two to highlight here is we had our second annual, sorry, we had our second annual comedy event for New Hope, which is an important message. It provides comprehensive domestic violence and sexual assault services to the local area. In addition to that was the Polar Plunge, which both Lance and Steve O'Toole participated in, where they had to take a deep dive into a very cold lake. And it raised awareness for the mass lions eye research. That's great. What month was this? That was in early April. Early April, and it was really cold? Yes, it was really cold. Yeah, first time. Yeah. Great. Maybe last time. Early April, really? It was cold. It's the opening of summer almost in the winter. Not tough enough? Good work. We'll move into Q1 sponsorships. So we maintained our sponsorships that we've been doing for quite some time. That includes the Rentham outlets. We've added TPC, the golf course, so that we can offer that amenity to our players. NBC Sports Celtics, we renewed the Fenway Concert Series, which we're excited about because it will allow us to bring our customers to a suite at each of the concerts. And then as we were talking earlier about the lottery, we recently did a promotion with them for March 23rd when the jackpot was $685 million. We purchased 500 tickets and gave them to the first 500 guests that came into the casino. So it generated excitement. It was a partnership, and we could really help raise awareness of how exciting the jackpot was. And finally, for the Bruins, this is kind of exciting. It's something different that we haven't done before and haven't been able to do before. But given where two of our properties have played against the Bruins, we were able to send our customers there, and they're sending their customers here. So tonight, we have a group from our St. Louis property that will actually be at TD Garden watching the game. Well, go Bruins. Oh, great. That's not what they're saying, but yes. I understand. And finally, for. And we do welcome them here. Yes. Very happy to have them here. Everybody's welcome here. And for marketing highlights, a couple of fun things that we did. We did a golden ticket, which was like the Willy Wonka chocolate bar, where there was various free slot play prizes on the golden ticket. We also did a Pi Day giveaway for 314, which we worked with a local company called the Ever So Humble Pi Company out of Walpole. And we purchased 1,500 mini pies and gave those out to our customers on 3.14. Get it? Yep. And we also have the My Choice launch, which is coming up. And we're excited about this. This is our new loyalty program. And it's when we integrated pen and pinnacle properties, we kind of combined the best of the best with the loyalty program. So some of the new initiatives that we'll be doing allows us to offer more local amenities on our websites, where they can use their points, their earning, to actually purchase things that are around our area, which will include concert tickets, Red Sox tickets, Southwood Zoo tickets, Luciano's gift cards. Really, what's in our local market and what's important to those that live in Massachusetts or those that want to visit Massachusetts. We partnered with Responsible Gambling Month with Game Sense. And then, as always, we continue doing our comedy shows in the loft. The next thing we're excited to test out is this summer we'll be doing outdoor concerts at the Racing Apron. Terrific, wow. So that's everything I have. Any questions? No, thank you. That's busy. You're welcome. Michelle, thank you. Very exciting. Thank you. So no further questions on the entire report? Good report. So commissioners, one final thing that I will mention is that I can attest that the Plain Ridge Park crew have been making great efforts to resolve the issue regarding the Section 61 finding involving Gatcher. I know that there's been numerous contacts. Has not been resolved to date, but it's still work in progress. And General Manager and I just had conversations about that in the last couple of minutes. With that, let me turn it over to Jill. Thank you. And that is actually 7C on our early agenda. Just so folks can follow. Thank you. Great report. This will be the Plain Ridge Park Casino Workforce Development Plan, which is up for a vote today. Thank you. Yes. Good afternoon. Good afternoon. So today we're here, and I'm hoping you'll vote on the Plain Ridge Park Casino Mended Workforce Development Plan. And just by way of background, at the request of commission staff, Plain Ridge has amended the Workforce Diversity Plan, which was originally submitted to the commission back in August of 2014 in preparation for their June 2015 opening. As you can imagine, a lot has changed since then. But I wanted to add that commission staff in Plain Ridge Park representatives have had numerous conversations relative to both Plain Ridge Park's efforts to achieve the goals of their original plan. And regarding the revised goals in the new plan. Plain Ridge updated the Workforce Development Plan, taking into account the lower unemployment rates, the more competitive gaming market, the neighboring economy of Rhode Island, and the recent changes to the Massachusetts minimum wage, which will increase the minimum wage over the next five years in Massachusetts. And Plain Ridge has had multiple meetings with staff in order to refine their proposed new goals. Additionally, Plain Ridge Park's former vice president of human resources, Ms. Kim Rigo, and I reviewed the plan with the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Director of Career Services. And these conversations also helped to inform the revisions. So you'll remember that this plan was originally presented to the commission back in February on the 28th, as John mentioned earlier during a review of their progress and meeting other goals and requirements. The commission requested that Plain Ridge Park discuss with its host and surrounding communities the status of its compliance with its goals and these new proposed plans. So Lance is prepared to discuss that today. The commission also suggested that the amended Workforce Plan be posted for public comment before taking any action on the plan. And we did post the plan for public comment on March 6th until March 27th of 2019. And we received no comments on the plan. So also included in your memo are the new hiring goals, one that 50% of Plain Ridge Park's workforce will be women. And this is formalizing something that they had been working towards. And at least 2% of Plain Ridge Park's workforce will be veterans. Previously they had a hiring preference. And to hire 65% of Plain Ridge Park's workforce from Massachusetts and that's a brand new goal. That's a really impressive goal. I know how close you are to Rhode Island, your facility, but I do think valuing those folks that are from Massachusetts is important. I think based on what we've seen, that will likely be the most challenging to achieve based on the numbers that continue to come in. With that being said, I think the number I just saw was 62% or 63%. So we're certainly in the neighborhood. Great. And Plain Ridge Park Casino has proposed revising certain hiring goals to hire 35% of Plain Ridge Park's workforce from their host and designated surrounding communities. And as you know, this is revised from the 90%, which has not yet been achieved. Their local hiring has hovered consistently in the mid 30 percentage points with a low of 20% in quarter two of 2016. And as you know, the unemployment rate in their host and surrounding communities is actually quite low. And another revised goal that 15% of their workforce be comprised of individuals from ethnic minority groups, and this is an increase from their previous goal of 10%. So with that, I'm going to pause and see if you have any questions and then turn it over to Lance to talk about his discussions with the host and surrounding communities. Yeah, I'd like to actually hear that first because when you talk about having a goal for hiring locally, it does impact those in surrounding communities. I'd be interested to hear kind of what their feedback was. Chil provided the unemployment rates are pretty low. If you wanted to hit that 90% goal, you would have to tell people leave your job and come work for us, which could be an appealing pitch, but I'm curious to how the host and surrounding communities reacted to the plan's change. Very briefly. So we sent out an email, got responses from two communities. The communities that we didn't receive emails from, we followed up with phone calls to ensure that they had received, reviewed it and read it. No concerns, no concerns. They thanked us for continuing to be a good neighbor. They're very supportive of us. They've always been very supportive of us, which is greatly appreciated, but largely uneventful. And so in the grant team, I think that's a good thing. But now they did not express any reservations, any concerns. And they thanked us for the information and for continuing to be a good neighbor. Wasn't that 90% a leftover from the Springfield application? So it was really never achievable. Is that correct? That is correct. Okay, so this is a more realistic goal. Yep. As well as you've increased your commitment to women, to minorities and to Massachusetts residents. Agree, and it's not a layup either. I think Jill mentioned the lowest we've been is 20%. This goal has us at 35%. I think I just saw 32% come in. So we're going to have to stretch a little bit to get there. And by the way, that number that you mentioned was the subject of a lot of those discussions that you talked about, Director Griffin, including that started with the midterm license review that also on Botswansi and was part of. So there was a lot of analysis done relative to the efforts that they undertake, the realities of the marketplace and the geography as well as the unemployment rate. So I think all of that bears into here to mention, which I'm comfortable with. Yeah, and one thing I didn't mention, some of those conversations was with our internal compliance committee. Yes. Commissioner O'Brien. One thing I did want to add is that along with the revised goals, Plain Ridge Park Casino has outlined specific tactics to help them meet those goals, including hosting an annual onsite career fair, attending a minimum of one veteran career fair per year in Massachusetts, attending at least two college career fairs per calendar year in Massachusetts, and partnering with the Massachusetts Career Centers in coordinating hiring events. So there are clear commitments to their new Massachusetts goal and to meeting the other goals. So I commend Lance and his team. I think a correction was certainly needed I think we all understand that. I do think, and John briefly talked about, you know, gatcha issues, transportation issues are a challenge in the region because you could hit some communities that, you know, do have higher pockets of unemployment who could find a career with Plain Ridge Park. It's just a question of how did they get there because there aren't the public transportation resources available to them. I'm happy with this change. I would just kind of put out two questions. One is on the ethnic minority group goal. You know, this quarter you hit 27%. We're talking about moving your goal up to 15%. I think that's fine, but I think as we kind of move forward we look at maybe moving that goal up a little bit further or at least have some consideration around that. And also, you know, we've stressed this I think with our licensees is that, you know, we hope these goals are floors and not ceilings. You know, we certainly know you're doing everything you can and that's why Jill's our watchdog on this, but setting these as floors and hoping that each time, you know, you kind of work to surpass those. I know that's what you want to do. You know, you can reassure us that that's your focus that will give us some confidence. That's our focus. Any further questions or discussion on this matter? I believe that Ms. Griffin has made a recommendation in the third report. Do we have a motion? Yeah, Madam Chair, I move that the commission approve the amended Plain Ridge Park Casino Strategic Plan to engage and recruit the diverse under and underemployed workforce population in the new hiring goals and strategies within. Second. Any further discussion? I just would want to again commend you for the efforts and I do think it's a reasonable amendment. But those of you who have no further discussions, I propose Catherine 5-0, please. Thank you. Great. Thank you. Thank you and have a good trip back. And we will go. Actually, I'm not sure if any of our folks from Plain Ridge are staying for raising, but our next item would be our originally scheduled item number six. Yeah. Yeah, Steve. We're raising. Stick around for Steve. Dr. Lightbrown. Dr. Lightbrown, always a pleasure. Thank you. Give me one moment to just get my notes in order here. I thought you were also part of the executive team. They didn't mention you. Sorry. All right. Dr. Lightbrown, thank you. I almost needed a break just to get my notes together here. Thank you. Good afternoon. Please proceed. Thank you. Our first item on the agenda for raising is the quarterly local aid payments. And I'm going to turn it over to Chad Bork, our senior financial analyst, to discuss that. Good afternoon, Madam Chair and commissioners. Good afternoon. So the first item we have is the quarterly local aid payment. Each quarter in accordance with section 18D of chapter 58, local aid is payable to each city in town where racing activities are conducted. The amounts are calculated at 0.35% times the handle from the quarter ending six months prior to payment. So with that said, the local aid payment for the quarter ending June 30, 2019 is in the amount of $181,638.36. This amount does reflect the total handle from racing that took place in October, November, and December of 2018. And on the second page, you'll see a breakdown of those handles as well as the distributions that are payable to each city in town. This item does require a vote. Any questions from Mr. Bork? Your reports are always very thorough. Thank you. So I move that the commission approve the quarterly aid payments for the second quarter in the amount of $181,638.36 as outlined in the memo. Second. Second. Second. Mr. Zuniga, please. And further questions? All set? All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Five-zero, please. Okay. Moving on now to item 6B. Plain Ridge Park Casino has two other racing officials to add to their approval. With me is Steve O'Toole, director of racing for Plain Ridge. The commission delegated the director of racing, the authority to approve racing officials if it was needed for business activities between meetings and that type of thing. So these two people have already been working. They've already passed the background checks of the state police and been signed off by the judges. And so today we need your approval. And if you have any questions, Steve's here to answer. Are these employees replacing others or are they just you need an additional staff? The outrider has been with us for a couple of years now. It's a replacement for the formal finish and timing position. Madam Chair, I move the commission approves the request of Plain Ridge Park Casino to approve Thomas Ryan, a Marshall outrider and Kelly Capico. Timing and photo finishes racing officials. Second. Any questions for Director O'Toole? Thank you for coming today. All those in favor? Aye. Aye. That was 5-0. Thank you. Thank you. Item 6C. Next item is Suffolk Downs request for capital improvements. And we have Vice President of Marketing Jessica here representing Suffolk. Do you have any questions? And I'll turn it over to Chad work again for this one. So this is a request for reimbursement for Suffolk Downs Capital Improvement Trust Fund. This is in the amount of $108,963.63. The commission approved the preceding request for consideration for all projects on March 28. I have included copies of the request forms and opinion letters from Dixon-Salo Architects. I did review all the supporting documentation, including pictures of the completed projects, vendor invoices, copies of checks made payable to those vendors to ensure that the amount requested does match up with the amounts built, which they did. And this item also requires your vote. Any questions from Mr. Ford? I'm sorry. I failed to get your name. It's Chad. No, I know you. Oh. Thank you. Yes, I know you. Thank you. Sure, it's not David. He's been Chad ever since I got here. I prefer Austin. No kidding, huh? All righty. So no further questions. Do we have a motion? Madam Chair, I'd move the commission to approve the request for reimbursement for the Suffolk Downs Capital Improvement Trust Fund as provided in the meeting. Second. Discussion? All in favor? Aye. Opposed? 5-0. Thank you. And our last item under racing, 16. So this is a request from Suffolk Downs for approval of a racing official. And again, this was a delegated authority. He acted as a starter the first weekend. He's been a long time assistant starter. And they're just asking for approval of Eddie Gubals as a starter. I believe he might also work the final weekend of Suffolk. When is the final weekend again? The 29th and 30th. And this weekend also? Yes, they're racing this weekend. This weekend as well. Two more weekends. Two more weekends. And I understand that you need a motion on this as well. Correct. This requires one. My only question is, is there supposed to be a list attached? His name's right in the memo. Eddie Gubals. Just in the letter. It's just the one person. There wasn't a separate list. Well, there should be a letter from Chip Tuttle. It's there. So Madam Chair, I move that the commission approve Suffolk Downs Request for a key operating personnel as a racing official Edward Publix. Gubals. Gubals. I'll say that again, please. Gubals. Gubals. As outlined in the memo. Is there a second? Second. All those in favor? Aye. Aye. Opposed? 5-0. Thank you. Thank you. I think we are now moving to our budget. Thank you very much. This would be item four in our original agenda for today. And Chief Finance Accounting Officer Derrick. Lemon will take over for us. Thank you. Thank you. Good afternoon, Madam Chair and commissioners. Good afternoon. I'm joined by Agnes Bollier and Douglas O'Donnell. And we're here to present to you the initial FY20 budget recommendations for the Mass Gaming Commission. I understand it was a strategic move to move us towards the end of the day to keep everyone engaged. And we appreciate that. In your packet, we are recommending $43.5 million in spending composed of the following areas. $34.2 million in the Gaming Control Fund, of which $28.4 million is for regulatory costs, and $5.78 million is for statutorily required costs, $6.54 million in research and responsible gaming funding, which for the first time will be funded from the Public Health Trust Fund, and $2.75 million in raising costs. In aggregate, this funds 107 FTEs and six contract positions. Once again, we've taken the time to distinguish between regulatory costs, which are the costs the commission can control, and statutorily required costs. The table on page two provides a little detail behind the $5.78 million in statutory costs, as well as it breaks out the funding the commission anticipates to receive from the Public Health Trust Fund in FY20. Pages three through seven of the memo compare the FY20 funding recommendations to the currently approved FY19 budget. Once again, I'd like to point out that FY20 will be the first year the commission will assess our licensees for the Public Health Trust Fund. We'll do that at the floor level, which is $5 million. It'll also be the first year that the research and responsible gaming budget will be funded from the Public Health Trust Fund rather than the Gaming Control Fund. For the purposes of comparing year-over-year budgets, the charts and the remainder of the memo total, the Gaming Control Fund costs with the Public Health Trust Fund costs, and call the combined spending the Gaming and Statutory Cost Funding. That's just so that we can look at apples to apples, even though it's a new breakout this year. The MDC's currently approved FY19 budget for the Gaming Control Fund. It's $37.85 million inclusive of research and responsible gaming. The FY20 Statutory Cost Funding recommendation is $40.7 million, which is an approximate 7.64% increase. The MDC's regulatory costs grew by 5.05% from $27 million in FY19 to $28.4 million in FY20, and this is mainly representative of the annualized costs of Boston Harbor, the Encore Boston Harbor Facility. While the Statutory Required Costs grew by 14.12% from $10.8 million in FY19 to $12.3 million in FY20, which are driven by the increase in responsible research and responsible gaming budget for GameSense and Encore Boston Harbor, as well as the Public Health Trust Fund taking on the indirect costs of our research and responsible gaming program, which had previously been funded from the Gaming Control Fund. At this point, I'd like to take a little time to discuss the MDC's process for building the budget. Beginning in February, the MDC's Office of Finance met with each division, bureau head within the MDC, and developed spending and revenue projections for FY20. The request was then reviewed by the Finance Office in coordination with the Executive Director and the Treasurer of the Commission. A third review was conducted by representatives of the current gaming licensees at a meeting on May 16, 2019 at the MDC office. The meeting included a comprehensive review of the commission's budgeted and aligned item level, and as always, was a very constructive and honest back and forth. Pages 5, 6, and 7 of the memo compare each of the MDC's division's FY19 budget to the proposed FY20 budget. In office, some details on major year-over-year increases or decreases. For example, while the statutory costs of the MDC funded from the Gaming... Sorry, not this statutory. While the regulatory costs of the MDC funded from the Gaming Control Fund are increasing by 1.36, the actual annualization of public safety and gaming costs of Encore Boston Harbor are close to the $3.67 million as you'll see in the details of the IEB's budget. Those increases are offset partially by the legal cost being driven down by over 2 million, as well as the IT cost being driven down by over a half million based on the one-time cost that they had to start up the Encore Boston Harbor facility. The racing division remains pretty consistent year-over-year with a modest 1.24% increase projected in FY20. And it would be... It'll advise me not to point out that the FY20 budget proposal does include a few funding exposures. First, the MDC has only budgeted for the bare minimum required by our insurance carrier for litigation costs. You'll see in the legal division, our budget decreased by over 2 million for legal costs. We've also included a full-year revenue for Suffolk Down simulcasting. That money is uncertain as of January 1st, and Doug can handle a lot of those questions if you have them after this. You mean July 1st? January 1st. January 1st? Oh, that's right. It's a full... That's right. Live-raising July 1st is uncertain. Yes. Thank you. But the majority of the money that funds the racing division comes from the simulcasting. And finally, we'll move on to the assessment piece of the discussion. Chapter 23, and I want to be very clear on this, as far as gaming positions and what we use for budgeting purposes versus the ombudsman's purposes. Chapter 23K, Section 56A through C, defined how the MDC will fund its annual costs related to gaming non-racing activities. This chapter was further defined through 205CMR-121. By taking the projected spending less than the budgeted by taking the projected spending less than that revenue is projected for FY20, the commission will utilize 205CMR-121.013B to assess approximately $29.8 million on licensees. In addition, for 205CMR-121.013C, the commission will, for the first time, assess $5 million to be deposited in the public health trust fund. This will result in a $34.8 million total assessment on our licensees. The way we've chosen to count gaming positions for the purposes of calculating the assessment on licensees is solely based on the number of available seats or positions at a facility, whether it be a slot machine, electronic table game, or an actual table game. That's a total number of seats that can be occupied and should not be confused at any time by how many people on average or at any given time are at the casino. This is solely for calculating budget purposes as laid out in the section of the general laws and further defined through our regulations. The chart on page 7 breaks out the total number of actual available seats for each casino as of June 1, 2019. Attached to this document, you'll find Attachment A, which is a spending revenue projection by appropriation. Attachment B provides a view of each division's budget by object class, and then Attachment C provides that same information, but goes first ordered by object class then by division. If there are any questions, I'd be willing to open up. My conversation with you this week was very helpful in understanding these numbers, so I appreciate the opportunity to meet with you and discuss in detail these numbers as well. Well, I was just going to actually emphasize some of the things that you already mentioned that are worth noting. The point that this is the first year we are assessing the statutory assessment of the Public Health Trust Fund of five million, but as per the MOU that we have with DPH, we will be funding $6.5 million of research and responsible gaming activities, the balance coming from the actual gaming taxes that flow into that fund, which is I think worthy of noting. Another thing that you mentioned is the legal fees, even though the increase in the regulatory costs is whatever it is, the $1.3 million that you highlighted, there is still some uncertainty relative to next year's legal fees just like there was last year, and based on however all those activities developed, we will likely come back and ask for our revision or supplemental poorly funding request as time evolves, but it's in good context as you put it here. The overall comment is that any one of these costs are I think appropriate in that aggregate, we are trending on the expensive side, and one thing that we should look to as we now transition into a regulatory mode is to look at how we'll continue to look for efficiencies and opportunities in the context of everything we do. I just wanted to put that out there because it's something that we constantly think about it internally, may not necessarily talk a lot about it in this format, but it's necessary for us to continue thinking about in those terms because it's I think it's appropriate. By the way, there's a third category that we simply don't control that is also part of this of this budget, and I should mention the attorney general's office, the ABCC the state police that's assigned to the attorney general's office as well as the indirect costs are all areas that we've tried to weigh in especially on the indirect costs, we don't believe we should be paying for it but it's something that we have not gotten any traction in that regard, and we'll continue to assess the licensees because that's our only recourse. And as a side point to what you just talked about Commissioner, I know we have a total kind of top to bottom a debrief, however we want to phrase that coming up certainly we needed to get through an opening and we continue to assess our risk and what resources we need in order to regulate appropriately with new information and I know that's something the team has talked about doing in the near future and I think that's a very valuable exercise. No, go ahead. I would just highlight again this is well put together I do appreciate the blurb of the FY20 budget proposals and some exposures we might have and you're talking about simulcasting we just heard about local aid payments related to simulcasting and maybe at some point for meeting down the line we need to talk about the bigger picture of racing once again and kind of where it's going and where direction it might be leading but I think that's great to have a conversation with the agenda two questions and one point in terms of the legal fees we've you've explained to us that we right now are carrying the budget just that low threshold I think it's 400,000 correct but it's my understanding I think it's important for us to publicly state this that we are working with the licensees on that and we are anticipating perhaps the need for additional amounts that commissioners and Nega mentioned and that's actually their preference at this point for us to proceed in that fashion that's correct that's actually a strategy that they've asked us to take on for the last two to three years rather than put in a high estimate and then come back hold on to money for the course of the year we prefer to pay it as we see what the anticipated bills are at the end of each quarter and to the point that commissioners and Nega and commissioner Cameron were making one of the things that our licensees talked to us exactly about was reviewing after opening our costs and remaining competitive with other regulators as far as what we spend and how we staff that is something we really have to pay attention to right and we will want to address how the process for that review we could keep that on our internal list to establish a process that suits Derek and team I've been remiss to also and I know you will do this but to mention your team's additions here but before we do that I have a second question there was at least in the last month a little bit of confusion about counting of the gaming positions and I appreciate today the clarification and I assume that all three licensees are all in agreement with how the assessment process is going with respect to that gaming position count so they were instrumental in driving this process so in the past we had put an arbitrary number onto each type of table game and what our licensees have said to us as well we may want to put a few more around or we may want to give our guests a little more space so why don't we just give you an actual count so we received an actual count Doug actually reached out to each licensee received an actual count reviewed it with our gaming agents to make sure it's accurate and those are the numbers that you'll see in this document in the licensee we have emails to back that adds a lot of clarity so thank you very much that does and the only thing that I would just point out is that it was not necessarily an arbitrary number it was a theoretical average poker tables that are generally 10 positions one licensee has 9 in one case those kinds of things which is what you want to describe or in the high limit area you may have 7 or 8 versus the 9 or 10 average that's the actual so that's really helpful if there are no other questions I think also Derek that you the next step is that this budget will now go out for public comment do you want to just elaborate on that process and then what you'll expect from us in the future yes so there are no additional questions or comments next thing we will do is right after this meeting put our budget out for public comment come back to you at the next scheduled commission meeting at least 2 weeks out so if it's 3 weeks out we'll come to you with that one bring back any public comments any issues that we may have and then ask you to consider those changes that may be brought forward or if there are no comments of substantial items we would just ask you to approve the budget as proposed that's a 2 week period is that everyone's comfortable with the 2 week public comment and that's been your past practice it has been but it could go out longer than that I suspect that the meeting at which the commission would take this up might be last week in June so I think we could just keep it out until probably 2 and a half close to 3 weeks and the reality is that the most comments the only comments we've gotten in the past are from the licensees has already taken quite a bit of robust time but it's important to put it out for comment just one last thing I'd like to say is like always the whole entire team here at DMGC is responsible for generating these numbers you know Agnes and Doug work tirelessly I get to do the presentation and take the credit but behind Agnes and Doug are their teams and behind them are each single division director who from day 1 have owned their own budgets meet with Agnes on a monthly basis can give us insight into why they're changing, why they're going up why they're going down this really led us to the place where we can sit in front of you and answer questions or give a good summary of what's happening rather than just a balance sheet exercise or a spreadsheet exercise so it's been a really good job the places I've been and people embrace it here and you know let me just add to that I think it's important and I think it's good to recognize everybody takes it very seriously because the freedom we have to simply assess licensees should be taken very seriously compared to other agencies where they have to go through a legislative appropriation process gives us really the luxury I would argue of looking at what's really necessary and that's an important thing to highlight in terms of taking it seriously here and having a hard look not just from the staff but especially from the commission as to how we can continue to always realize efficiencies where we can and spend what we think is appropriate for the activities that we need to be done I wholeheartedly agree Any further questions? Thank you for the thorough presentation and I should note that Derek is always very generous behind the scene always commending his his team and making sure that their contributions are known to me and I think that's exceptional for you Derek so thank you Thanks to everybody Appreciate it Thank you I think that this is an item that's actually on the original agenda number eight correct for the legal division general counsel blue do you want to lead? Thank you Madam Chair good afternoon commissioners we have before you today amendments to four existing regulations for items 8a b and d we are asking for your approval to begin the formal promulgation process for those amendments item 8c we're asking for your approval to file this on an emergency basis and begin the formal process as well we have different folks here to present on each one we were wondering I know deputy general counsel Grossman is there if we could do item 8d first because then we could let Mr. O'Toole get back to the track there are matters there I think he was welcoming that item 8d is the addition of another form of wager to the racing wager regulation unlike in gaming every time we want to add a wager to be available to the public and the patrons we have to change the regulation so this is just an additional form of wager Mr. O'Toole can explain to you what it is it seems a little complicated to me but I'm sure he understands it sure thank you so what we're asking for is just to adopt the AirCI recommendations of the model rule for jackpot payoffs we've had good success with the Wicked High 5 we call it it's a pent-effecta and the way that the pent-effecta is hit at playing Ridge it's not just that you pick 5 horses and the 5 horses come in in that particular order you do get a payoff for that but that's a consolation you have to have the only ticket of all the wagers that picked that correctly and then you get the jackpot so 50% when it starts 50% of the pool gets carried over or the whole pool if there's no tickets gets carried over to the next pent-effecta race and then that jackpot builds and we've had 20,000 payoffs 10,000 $8,000 last week so we're in the process now this week of building it back up so what we want to do here is these are called pick 3, pick 4, pick 5 we have picked the winners of the races in succession not the first 5 horses in a particular race but now you're picking races 4 through 9 let's say in a pick 5 and then the same the same theory applies you have to be the only ticket if there's more than one then there's a consolation that's carried over so that's the concept behind the wagers we have it already in place for the pent-effecta and it's been successful and now we want to add the rest of the racing commissioners in the national model rules that govern these which are already adopted in a lot of places in the breaks to govern the pick 4 and pick 5 and pick 6 we're only going to use it on either a pick 5 or a pick 6 we're only going to use it on the smaller ones and it will only be one time a day that's going to be a better question so pick 5 and pick 6 would you have them crossover days or they have to be within the same day it's always consecutive races so it's always you could set it up any way that you want the pick 6 could be from 6 to 8 I mean from 2 to 8 but they have to be within the same day it cannot be the last race in one day and then come back the next day to pick the other 4 I suppose you could but it hasn't been done I'm not sure I'd have to look at the breaks to see if you can do it that way that would be one way to guarantee that you're the only one but it's done right now industry-wide we were talking about the fact that it makes sense to do it in the same day because people want to get those bets in and move on to something else they're still captured for future cards and future events if it doesn't get hit that's the jack for us I'm just looking at it from the gambler perspective if I wanted to pick 5 and there's only 3 races left in the day we can't do it unless it carried over into the next day the program is pre-populated with the exact races that we decide it's going to be we stay consistent with that so if you came to Plain Ridge next week and you came to Plain Ridge 3 months from now on that card the pick 5 would be races 4 to 9 it would always be consistent with those races so you don't get to pick and choose the races it's a finite number of races on the 1 card and then everyone bets into that 1 pull for those 5 races okay and I really like the fact that we are conforming with our CI rules because as we know simulcasting the betters will understand these are the same rules that other states other jurisdictions have that's a really important piece well and that adds to the competitiveness if people can find certain bets in other places and not in Plain Ridge there might be a disincentive to come in or to bet in Plain Ridge Mr. Gressman can you just explain the process for how the complicated reg is drafted and reviewed and make sure that it works for Mr. O'Toole's team did you work on the drafting okay thank you attorney Therese drafted it we went to the RCI rules because we have made our RCI our wagers consistent with the RCI rules so we used their language we did get the request though from Mr. O'Toole so we understood what he was looking for we worked with director Lightbaum to make sure that was appropriate as well and so that's how that's how the process has worked thank you so where are we in the process promulgating and that's a unique process and I thought that was your question Madam Chair when it comes to racing so this will start the formal process once we do the hearing we get the comments we'll put it out for comment we'll have a hearing we will come back to the commission to ask for authorization to file it with the legislature it will stay with the legislature for 60 days when we either hear from the legislature or we don't hear and that period runs out we'll come back and ask you for approval to finalize the promulgation alright so we need a motion separately for each for the small business impact as well as the to begin the regulation promulgation process that's correct so Madam Chair I move that the commission approve the version of the amendments in 205 CMR 6.35 pick and pools as included in the packet and authorize the staff to take all steps necessary to begin the regulation promulgation process did we need a motion on the small business impact statement well I was going to do that one second well I think that's the first one the first motion that I've drafted motions the first one is small business second one is the regulation but right now you should do small business right now we do have a motion so we need to are you suggesting that we withdraw the small business impact statement first so I withdraw the motion thank you and I move that the commission approve the small business impact statement for the amendments to 205 CMR 6.35 pick and pools as included in the packet second I'd like to I want to just point of order understand that motion because I'm not sure that's been thoroughly are we all set do we need any further input on that does anybody have any questions on this motion on the small business impact okay based on your review which is why I gave you the motion well I understand I understand well it doesn't impact small businesses because it impacts language more than anything else that's right no questions on that Mr. Grossman do you have anything to add no that's great thank you um no further questions those in favor aye those opposed I'm going to abstain on that thank you I just don't feel completely comfortable understanding the small business impact piece I feel more comfortable on the next one so thank you just a product of me being relatively new so for one thank you I will make the second motion and move that the commission approve the version of the amendments 205 CMR 6.35 in pools as included in the packet and authorizes staff to take all steps necessary to begin the regulation promulgation process second any further questions on that okay those in favor aye opposed thank you next we have item 8a and we have deputy general counsel Grossman here to present on that those amendments good afternoon they are now a series of three proposed changes to three separate sections of the regulations one of them madam chair actually does impact small businesses so we can get into that in a little more detail when we get there the first and the third item that we will discuss though we will submit do not have any impact on small businesses as they really just pertain to the operation of the casino itself and to the third one relative to patrons as well neither of which are small businesses so really weren't the focus of that section of the law that requires the commission to consider impacts on small businesses before making regulations with that said the first proposal pertains to progressive controllers scott helwig has joined me up here to help explain to you what a progressive controller is if that is helpful here but I would just kick it off by noting that the proposal here is intended to clarify the existing requirements as they pertain to the physical security of progressive controllers that are that relate to certain slot machines within the casino we do have an existing regulation that addresses this there have been some questions about the application of that section so in an effort to clarify that we have collaborated on this language that we have before you here today you'll note that the new language addresses directly external I'm sorry integrated progressive controllers that the existing language does not address and that was the source of some of the questions that we were receiving so it's our suggestion that the new language though similar to the existing language just really clarifies the rule related to the security of progressive controllers if there are no questions we can certainly move this just through the process allow all of the gaming licensees to comment on it I believe Mr. Hellwig has already shared this language with the gaming licensees there really wasn't too much of a response Mr. Grossman when you say there was questions were those questions from licensees that were just unclear Madam Chairman yeah that was the initial questions from the properties was just the clarification of whether how they handled internal or integrated progressive controllers because there was language about external controllers so they just wanted some clarification on how to address internal controllers so those were the questions that were coming from the property you believe this new language really does provide and you've already discussed it with our licensees yes and they have commented back that it is much clearer to them now and a lot more easy to understand I had a question about the stricken language when you have whenever the progressive controller and or bank controller has been accessed written notification shall be provided to the commission and in the replacement language it talks about you can't access without first giving written notice to the commission but is anything being lost by accidental or no malfeasance leading to access was that supposed to be a notification of some sort of breach that's disappearing in our vision no no they should actually be contacting the IAB every time they do go to access a progressive controller so maybe we can look at that language and if we need to clarify it a little bit it seems like they're not quite apples to apples the stricken with the replacement one was one was after and the other one is a priority or correct my question is is there some sort of additional mandate to give written notification if there's some sort of either breach or inadvertence the other one just says you shall not without asking first but what if there's some other access how was that you're saying it sort of understood they give notice but it's not clear well this would be only the beginning we could always clarify that in between the promulgation we can because we will be looking for comments and we can make that changes part of any changes we make for comments we can begin the process and take that into consideration yes we can is there an issue with taking that stricken sentence and adding it in at this point as we move forward or would we just make note that my question is part of the formal comment process that needs to be addressed to the next stage I think we are being asked to vote on the version in front of us but I think you've raised a point that perhaps many of us understand should we amend it now to reflect Commissioner O'Brien's and Toyota do you need time to digest that I think we can do it either way it's oftentimes easier to take all comments at once and make all of the changes so you as a commission can see what those changes are but we can certainly make your change now and do other changes later after the comment period whichever you prefer I think the difference is that we are being asked to vote on this version and I think maybe there could be a process to say vote on this version as amended as opposed to viewing Commissioner O'Brien's comment as a comment obviously a comment here what I could do is move forward on this with that strict language and the closing sentence and then we can just go forward with comment from there and it does create a problem right and the reason why I like that is that at least the public will be commenting on the version that we actually vote on does that make sense if that doesn't cause a change what are we done if there are any other questions or perhaps suggestions I think Mr. Grossman do you have a suggestion on where we would insert the language I would suggest we just strike the last sentence in the red and replace it with the sentence that addresses it above my inclination is to add the strict sentence because I feel like they do two separate things one is to ask for affirmative permission in advance to whether there is some sort of breach so what I propose to do is make the motions basically amending by adding the sentence whenever progressives have been accessed as the final sentence and then that can go up for comment and if it comes back that they can be reconciled or stricken then we can deal with it at that point okay so simply add that sentence to the end are there further questions on this one again discussed this motion too do we want to have a discussion on the small business impact statement before we vote or do we have do you want to present I would just note I really don't think that this change will impact small businesses in any way if you think about the universe of who this is addressed to it's the staff the casino who would have any involvement with slot machines or progressive devices and the casino itself is not a small business in any way it certainly impacts our staff and we are not a small business in any way I don't really think it in any way impacts the manufacturers of progressive devices but even they wouldn't be considered small businesses or huge multinational corporations so I think you'll see in the draft statement before you we indicate that there's no impact or it doesn't appear that we never say there's never we say it doesn't appear that there's any impact that would be created on any small businesses and I think that's fair in this particular case I don't think this is the type of regulation that that statute was really concerned and can you remind me is this filed with the secretary of state's office? Yes it is, it gets filed along with the notice of our regent and it's published in the national regent that's a requirement that goes with the process excellent and for context that has been our experience with most of the regulations that's absolutely right there are some you know the hearing regs for example to impact small businesses in some cases but that's a lot of the regulations that we promulgate on licensees is just what Mr. Grossman articulated I'm not questioning the impact I was actually wanting to be reminded of the process of filing I haven't really looked at this for probably four years so thank you so it gets filed with the secretary of state's office as part of our formal regulatory process Yes and it gets published in the mass register of hearing so everyone can see what we've said about the small business impact and then just to fast forward at the end of the process after the public hearing when we come back before you to have a look at the final draft language there's what's called an amended small business impact statement where you answer it's seven similar but slightly different questions to see whether your your view of any impact on small businesses has changed throughout the process and again that gets filed with the secretary as well so really the statute is designed just of course so you take a real close look at any impact that a change is going to have on small business which is not to say you can't have any impact on small business you just need to think about it Thank you thanks for the reminder I appreciate it okay so I believe that the legal team is looking for a couple of motions so I don't believe I need to amend as to the small business I can read motion one would be that I move the commission approve the small business impact statement for amendments to 205 CMR 143.02 for the rest of the gaming devices and that statement being including the packet of captioned small business impact statement second any further questions are the assistance and understanding process all those in favor aye opposed 5-0 and Madam Chair I further move that the commission approve the version of the amendments to 205 CMR 143.02 progressive gaming devices as included in the packet but as amended to have the concluding sentence read whenever the progressive controller and or bank controller has been accessed the application shall be provided to the commission and authorize the staff to take all steps necessary to begin the regulation promulgation process second any further questions on that all those in favor opposed 5-0 item number 8B is an amendment to our definition section these are definitions to clarify veteran owned businesses minority businesses commissioners Stevens you may want to speak a little bit to these definitions and the changes we're making sure thank you the as we're all probably familiar with the gaming statute again created priority engagement of our licensees with minority business enterprises women owned business enterprises and veteran business enterprises as we quickly found out there were certification processes in place primarily through the mass supplier developer supplier diversity office for minority and women however there was really no suitable certification for veteran owned enterprises so until our friends at the supplier diversity office came up with a process for certifying the veteran business enterprise we were putting ourselves a little bit at risk by trying to do it internally thankfully now because SDO has come up with the process takes about a month it's free of charge to whoever the BBE is I thought it was a good idea to kind of memorialize this as well as memorialize the certificate certifying agencies or organizations that also do this kind of work because some have been through one certifying agency maybe not another but it does give our licensees and some level of comfort that the numbers they report to us are actual business with MBEs business with BBEs or business with WBEs so kind of memorializing that process and those entities I think is really helpful that's right and I'd be happy to just piggyback on Commissioner Stevan's remarks and just add that where this fits into the process now these definitions actually exist in the regulations in section 138 which is the construction oversight section in order to bridge the gap into operations we are proposing that they be migrated also over to the definitions section which would make them applicable to for example section 139 where we talk about the periodic and annual reports that the gaming licensees have to file relative to the provision of goods and services for example and the amount of dollars contracted with and spent and actually paid to these assorted business enterprises so this will really just somewhat tie up a loose end in the regulations and ensure that we have clear definitions for what we mean by these types of business enterprises in an ongoing fashion. I would just add anecdotally we know some of our licensees are doing business with let's say maybe professed business categories that fit into this however our licensees can't count them until they go through a recognized certification process so I think at the end of this we ought to think about how we communicate that out to everybody we have on our licensed or registered vendor base just so they're aware that they probably can't be counted until they subscribe to the certification. The enforcement application is certainly a big piece of this. Madam Chair just hear earlier comments there's certainly an impact here on small businesses as many of these entities are in fact small businesses. I believe what we've said in the small business impact statement though is that essentially this is an entirely voluntary process it is a process that's essentially set out by the supplier diversity office and by our inclusion of these definitions in the regs we are not ourselves creating any new requirements or burdens or hurdles that don't already exist elsewhere and that we're really just trying to ensure that there's a uniform way that we can account and give credit to certain companies in these types of situations. Just since you brought up the small business impact statement I got two questions or points under question 2 which talks about the state that projected reporting, record keeping and other administrative costs. This third sentence down the proposed definition requires presentation of the commission by a vendor the applicable recognition from an existing government agency process. We have it a little broader because there are non-government agencies that offer that certification so I think we need to amend it to reference them as well. The next line you do say is that there are no costs associated with the actual commission process. Just give me a little clarification of that because some of these outside organizations do charge SDO does not as a service to Massachusetts businesses and if somebody comes to us for licensing or registration there's a cost to the business for doing that as well. So I'm just looking as to what you were suggesting in that short sentence but you could say there is a cost at some different touch points. I think we should clarify that I would start by saying. I would say though that the intent was to say that by including these definitions in the definition section there was really no additional cost involved in this certification process as we already have a certification process but your point is certainly well taken particularly as it applies to outside organizations that you might have to go to for certification. So we will clarify that. It's based on my experience that the reason why they reached out to these other non-governmental agencies was really to streamline the processes for the vets so it's actually helping. But to the extent that they do charge of the again the process helps that that's actually needed. In some of the other organizations who we worked with do charge a fee and offer additional services and resources on top of that which SEO has priorities of what they need to do with that. I think that that hope process has been received with great success but that's a good amendment and then the other one with respect to existing government agency process that's just a quick knit. Do we have to address costs in the small business statement? Is that one of the Yeah, I think that's the actual question. So we don't need to. But do you have recommended language right now that we could act on? I don't have to cut my head. For clarification, Commissioner Stevens we're stating too that the commission in fact imposes any of its own costs. I was looking for some clarification because if you do apply to be registered or licensed vendor, you do. That one I do. I understand. That's not out. I just don't know if what you were referencing was the certification process and what whether the commission puts a price tag. Yeah, it was really the certificate because the fact that you have to pay a fee to become registered as a vendor is not really up for discussion here that's already in place and that is the process. I would say that the commission does not impose any costs. And then to the extent that the certification process has some kind of incidental costs, then we've covered it. Is that what the Secretary of State's office is looking for in terms of with that or do we need to say mention that the SDO may have? Well, I mean just to be clear, the Secretary of State's office doesn't really monitor any of that. I think they should develop the statute that asks the question and I think it's our obligation just to answer the question fairly so people understand what impacts we think they are. So I think it would be fair to clarify that point that this process does not create any new costs, though of course there may be costs associated with becoming certified. I mean if you wanted to amend too much the commissioner's point where it talks about it ends with government agency process you could amend it to say or similar private organization. And then you can conclude that paragraph to say because it says and there are no costs associated with the actual commission process if you added a sentence that says we know however private organizations may charge it free for such designation. Then I think you've addressed sort of the gap that the private organization may charge. I think that's appropriate. So why don't we if we don't have any further questions or discussion for legal shall we move first. So I think it would be fair to clarify that there are no costs associated with the actual commission process. So shall we move first on the small business impact statement. Madam chair I move the commission approve the small business impact statement for the amendments to 205 cmr 102.02 definitions as included in the packet with amendments to number two's words or similar private organization following the phrase government agency process and to further conclude that paragraph with the sentence we note comma however comma that private organizations may charge a fee for such designation period. Second. Any further questions? All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? 5-0 please. Do we have any further questions or comments on the actual proposed regulatory change? No? I'll set. All right. Do we have a motion? Madam chair I move the commission approve the version of the amendments to 205 cmr 102.02 definitions as included in the packet and authorized the staff to take all steps necessary to begin the regulation and obligation process. Second. All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? 5-0. Okay now we're on 8C. Item number 8C is amendments to the excluded persons regulation and just a little refresher. This is the list that the commission puts people on as opposed to the voluntary excluded list. These are this is the regulation where we have a process whereby the IAB makes a determination as to who may be appropriate to put on this list. They have noticed an opportunity to be heard. We are asking the commission to approve these changes by emergency so that we can have them in place before the opening of Angkor. We have made changes to this regulation in the past and these are just sort of minor changes so that we can make sure it's ready to go. I do have a question. I remember we talked about these in the past and I understand that some of these amendments are too further aligned with our hearing regulations more than anything else. But the one thing I want to ask on the 152.07 the petition to remove the name from the exclusion list the request now goes to the Bureau as opposed to the commission. Why was that necessary? Can you remind me? Well it goes to the Bureau and then the Bureau lets the commission know we have a hearing. So the commission still has the hearing, yes. Because the other way around putting them in the list needed to go to the Bureau for all kinds of other reasons but they didn't have to come to the commission. Well so when the IV makes a determination and I'll let Mr. Roseman correct me here too they send the letter out the person then has the ability to ask for a hearing in front of the commission if they don't ask for a hearing within the specified time they will end up on the list if they do then they'll have a hearing and the commission will decide whether they're on the list or not. Yeah that's on the front end. That's on the front end. This is if someone wants to come off. Yes. I think when we looked at this the last time we wanted to clarify that process for letting people come off. I don't think our process was as clear. So this would be the person themselves requesting to come off. The Bureau would get the request and then there would be a request to the commission for a hearing on the removal. Right now if you read the entire section it's like Bureau needed to be replaced with commission because otherwise the process didn't really make sense. They would come to us to request but it still lay with the Bureau to make the finding the hearing and then I need an aisle comes back to us so it's more of a ministerial correction I think to make the rest of the section make the process follow. And I presume it's aligned with the hearing. And that must be how it is. Well this has the statute has a separate requirement for hearings on this particular issue but yes we've aligned it up as closely as we can given the statutory requirements for it. So the hearing is with the commission. And Attorney Grossman I know you've worked with Attorney Williams on this and that the IEB is in agreement with these changes, correct? Absolutely. And again the reason why we need this to be an emergency on a emergency basis may have to vote today on an emergency basis. Could you explain that? Sure I think the theory would be that if we're about to start putting people on the list which hasn't really started in earnest yet that it would be most fair for those individuals to know exactly what the process is. And if we wait in potentially there could be a change to the process by which they would go about getting on the list, coming off the list the whole thing, even though they're not really major changes. So that's the reason. So this would allow IEB and the Game and Commission to continue to operate under the emergency regulation but it will still go out in full obligation and it could be changed. Yes so procedurally it would work is that if you were to approve this by emergency it would go into effect immediately. We would then commence the formal promulgation process as we ordinarily would with these others have a public hearing etc etc and then you'll have a chance and people have a chance to comment and you can vote on the final version within 60 to 90 days or whenever it is. So that gives an opportunity to look more carefully if that makes sense. I'll be myself with the explanation that you provided Commission and I think it's appropriate. If I may add context that I did ask Attorney Lilius for there's only 11 people in this list currently and it's mostly people who have been referred to the Bureau from the Attorney General's Office Division they gave me people. It does also appear to add some teeth to if the licensee fails to cooperate knowingly or recklessly. That's already there so it says it again. It's in a different section. It's new to 152.066 It's new where it is and the small impact the small business impact is the same as in which it doesn't affect small business. That's right. It only affects our licensees, the commission and individuals. Any further questions or discussion? We have a motion on the impact statement. I move that the commission Madam Chair, I move that the commission approve the small business impact statement for the amendments to 205 CMR 152 individuals excluded from the gaming establishment as included in the packet. Second. Those in favor? Opposed? 5-0 Do we need to approve on an emergency basis or does this our language cover? The motion has language for the emergency basis. But not for the impact statement. Does that matter? No. Then Madam Chair I would move that the commission approve the amendments to the 205 CMR 152 individuals excluded from a gaming establishment as included in the packet and authorize the staff to file the regulation on an emergency basis pursuant to Chapter 23K Section 5B and further to take the steps necessary to file the regulation with the secretary of the Commonwealth and to proceed with the formal regulation promulgation process. Second. Any further discussion? Questions? All those in favor? Opposed? 5-0 Thank you. Thank you. Now Commissioner Updates Item number 9. Do we have any today? I have two quick ones. Again I had the chance to go to the gaming school graduation on Saturday which was a lot of fun. I would just suggest that they weren't all necessarily young graduates who were in the crowd. They were people at all points in their life whether it was they had retired from a previous job and were looking for a new challenger opportunity but we had one graduate who showed up legitimately in the full cap and gown outfit to be part of the ceremony so it was rewarding. The other item I've had some continual outreach with the Department of Elder Affairs with respect to the work they do to protect elders across the Commonwealth and obviously we know that elderly population in Massachusetts enjoys going to our casinos so we had a great conversation with folks from Elder Affairs with Mark Vanderlin and myself wanted to talk about things like game sense play my way, the voluntary self exclusion list is things that their network could be aware of as we get ready to open another casino. We also had an opportunity or will have an opportunity to maybe educate our game sense employees on what to do if they see an elderly person in distress calling elderly protective services my hope is if that training goes well it might be something that we could also extend to our gaming agents and the GE unit as well as security at our licensees so first step is for game sense the new game sense team to maybe do a training and maybe do it in time before on board opens. Do you want to talk about your Nevada check? Yes, I do. I went to the gambling and risk taking conference last week that took place in Las Vegas takes place every three years this is the premier really research evaluation conference has been taking place I mentioned 17th times again in the three years it's sponsored by UNLV and it congregates a lot of what people from around the world who are doing research evaluation and other responsible gaming activities there were Massachusetts continues to be featured prominently there our own Mark VanderLinden was part of two sessions Rachel Volver Rob Williams two principal investigators were themselves part of two other sessions as well as the division of addiction Cambridge health alliance they also have a session all talking about what massacres it is doing including also the mass council on responsible Massachusetts council on problem gambling the point being is that our efforts are prominently featured in this conference that again draws from people around the world it's a small community but it's an influential community of researchers and people who do this notably from Europe and Canada and are very interested in responsible gaming and the like one the keynote speaker in this conference was Becky Harris and she talked about she's a former chair of the Nevada gaming control board her speech was interesting and timely my main update here because it was reflection on her tenure which was a little bit more than a year but it was book ended by the developments of wind resorts because she talked about how she was there two days two or three days in her job when the January 21st article in the Wall Street Journal came to be it was a very powerful speech she went through what Nevada has gone through the Nevada gaming control board and if I can do justice and try to summarize it it is a healthy discussion as to whether and how the gaming control board could recommend regulations to the commission to address this notion of sexual harassment on the gaming companies that they regulate there was two schools of thought that she described that there was already enough in the existing statutes and regulations to address these matters like many others and there was others who thought like she did to include regulations into the scheme here the board voted ultimately unanimously to recommend those regulations the way she describes that is that this now puts the onus into the gaming companies to certify to the regulators that they're in compliance with these regulations as opposed to in the past which was one in which the individual would have to come forward and in order for anything to really take effect I should note that despite the vote of the gaming control board to adopt them at the commission level so that's forthcoming I don't know what the outcome will be it will be interesting for us to look at that and I know there's been some discussions here as we wanted to commission on camera and we wanted to look into processes or our own evaluation in general of our gaming licensees and I wanted to again offer that and thank you I've had the opportunity on a couple of occasions to speak to Becky Harris about these matters she gave a full presentation in Copenhagen last year and we have a working group here to take a look at similar matters to see if we in fact need to make changes no decisions have been made yet but it's a robust working group lots of informed opinions and we really felt like we needed to get through our earlier decisions before we move forward so that group will be working again yes correct as well as a number of staff members but thank you I'm aware of her how strongly she feels about the issues and she does have some very interesting points to be made on the subject and I believe either the transcript or a tape of those presentations will be available and I will point them to you whenever we can get our hands on there are other items that I just highlight quickly that bring home mostly because of the work that we've been doing there's people out there looking at technology to improve responsible gaming apps notifications et cetera something that we've done in our own version here with play my way but it's something that we should continue looking at there are people struggling with regional voluntary self exclusion there's a big effort in Europe to try to do that it's something that hard statute directs us to explore as well because of the size and density and geography of gaming in New England and I could relate to those struggles because it has not been entirely successful in our prior efforts to put together a regional voluntary self exclusion list but Europe is looking hard at it and most notably and this dovetails into the game sense program there has been this great very interesting session about the effectiveness of brief interventions there is some really hopeful evidence that they provide a marginal benefit there's real opportunity related to the cumulative effect of those brief interventions and the whole point is that they are also very cost effective and that's really goes to the core of the game sense program so I could really as well identify well with them so overall a great conference again I will try to get marked to perhaps summarize or make available the most notable sessions in case anybody is interested Mr Cameron do you have an update? Do I have a motion? to adjourn? Second. Those in favor? Aye. Post 5-0 thank you