The Wampanoag Mashpee tribe is taking several avenues to overturn the decision by the Bureau of Indian Affairs that itself reversed a previous DOI ruling that allowed the tribe to take land into trust for gaming purposes. Last month, the DOI said that the tribe could not take land into trust because it was not recognized by the federal government before 1934, which is the requirement set in place by the Supreme Court in the Carcieri case.
Last week, the tribe filed a new lawsuit in the Federal District Court for the District of Columbia that wants the recent decision overturned. The suit names the DOI and Secretary Ryan Zinke.
Also last week, tribal attorney Benjamin J. Wish filed a request to stay the appeal of that decision, while continuing to proceed with the new lawsuit. Wish says a decision by the district court would make going forward with the appeal “moot.”
Meanwhile, the rejection of the Mashpees’ bid may awaken the stalled proposed casino resort in nearby Brockton. Planned by billionaire Neil Bluhm’s Rush Street Gaming, the project was put on the shelf by the Massachusetts Gaming Commission until the Mashpee challenge was completed. Now that it is, Rush Street would like to see it reactivated.
Mass Gaming & Entertainment, the partnership behind the Brockton proposal, asked in June that the project be reconsidered. Last week, a gaming commission attorney responded.
“This is the only process currently available to the Commission for the issuance of a gaming license,” Catherine Blue wrote. “Any change to that process would require the promulgation of new regulations, following public discussion and public comment.”
Blue said that the “presumption” of a Mashpee casino was not part of the reason the project was rejected, but that the plans “failed to demonstrate that the proposed project would maximize revenue to the commonwealth or that it would offer the highest and best value to create a secure and robust gaming market in Region C (southeastern Massachusetts).”
