The Boston Herald has reported that the famed Connecticut tribal casino, Mohegan Sun, is making plans to build a $1 billion casino resort in Palmer, Massachusetts. Although not quite as expansive as the Connecticut property, the planned resort in Palmer will be nothing nothing less than prodigious and comprehensive. Apparently, the casino will house 4,000 slot machines, while a 600-guest room hotel will be built amongst a very large retail center offering a wide range of shopping and dining options.

Mohegan Sun's Chairman, Bruce "Two Dogs" Bozsum, confirmed all of the aforementioned, and that the resort would cost at least $1 billion to be built from the ground up. He also cited the resort would create some 5,000 permanent jobs in the region, not to mention thousands of construction jobs during the building phase.

These comments confirm previous speculation regarding the resort, which has been bereft of any details for some time. Of course, the resort will only go up if Governor Deval Patrick and the State Legislature approve to bring casino gambling into Massachusetts.

The Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority seems to think it so. They have already signed an exclusive land development agreement with Northeast Realty and Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust to begin researching and formulating a plan to develop 150 acres of land for a casino resort just off the Mass Pike.

Most analysts agree that Governor Patrick will not be able to resist the temptations of casino revenue coming in to fund the promised projects that his first budget is not panning out to support. Mohegan Sun is betting Patrick will have no choice but to say yes.