The Las Vegas Sun reported Thursday that Moody's Investors Service has downgraded the debt of Cannery Casino Resorts, prospective developer of the Salem racetrack slots barn. Moody's now rates Cannery at Caa1, meaning "subject to very high default risk."
 
"Moody's said the downgrade reflects the slower than expected ramp up at Cannery's two new casinos: the Meadows near Pittsburgh, which opened in April; and Eastside Cannery on Boulder Highway in Las Vegas, which opened in August 2008," reports the Sun.
 
'The East Side Cannery and two other Las Vegas casinos are ... performing well below original expectations and will continue to struggle in the foreseeable future," wrote Moody's.

 

Kevin Landrigan reported on the downgrade in his Sunday Nashua Telegraph column with the ominous headline, "Expanded gambling not always sure thing."

 

Backers of the Sagamore Crossing casino proposed for Hudson have refused to identify their funding sources. Perhaps they have no funding?

 

Predatory gambling backers are operating under the now-indefensible assumption that lenders will plow money into New Hampshire's second-string (not near major metro markets) gambling locations and that the already debt-strapped consumer will go deeper into debt to fund more gambling losses. 
 

Or ... are the Salem and Hudson slots casino proposals really intended as flips? Use a bunch of familiar faces to trick the legislature into granting these as monopoly locations, then sell the permits. Will New Hampshire like being in bed with the as-yet unknown buyers?