Twin River appears set to exit its yearlong bankruptcy, with state officials and new owners hopefully wiser for the experience.
The R.I. Department of Business Regulation is expected to approve the operating license for Twin River owner UTGR Inc. following a hearing this week. The license will allow the company to emerge from Chapter 11 protection without much of the crushing $568 million in debt that forced it into bankruptcy in June 2009.
The prospective owners, led by financial giants Bank of America and Wells Fargo, may stick around only long enough to make a profit by selling a depressed but still promising asset. Whoever the long-term owners are, they will hopefully learn from BLB Investors’ mistake in investing beyond its means in the facility.
No private enterprise, including gambling, is immune to recession or bad business decisions. It’s a lesson the state, which in fiscal 2010 collected $250 million from the Lincoln facility, can’t afford to ignore. Rhode Island, like many other states, is clearly dependent on gambling revenue. But gone are the days when budget writers can bank on the state collecting ever-increasing sums from Twin River and Newport Grand.
Gambling is an important revenue stream worth protecting but it is not an economic-development plan to bet the state’s future on. •
