The Massachusetts Gaming Commission is seeking input from residents of the southeastern part of the Bay State as to whether it should reopen the bidding process for Region C.
This is the region that includes Taunton, where the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe would like to build the First Light Casino & Resort but have been stymied by the courts and the Department of the Interior. The MGC in 2016 by a vote of 4-1 rejected a proposal for a commercial license in Brockton in deference to the tribe, which still had a hope that the Interior Department would figure some way around the court judgment that the tribe’s land into trust process was fatally flawed. The 321 acres that was put into trust is now in legal limbo.
The 2011 legislation that authorized casino gaming in the state called for three casino resorts, in three zones, and one slots parlor. Only the license for Zone C has not been filled.
The developers, Mass Gaming & Entertainment, which includes Rush Street Gaming and their partners, the owners of the Brockton Fairgrounds, propose a $677 million casino resort on the fairgrounds. In June they sent a letter asking that the commission reexamine their application in the light of the tribe’s faltering steps. The commission’s legal counsel advised it to do a comprehensive study of the gaming market of Region C to determine if it has significantly changed since its earlier ruling.
This is not the first time that rejected applicants have asked for a reconsideration. In those cases staff has advised the commission: “ (it) … may not have the ability to reconsider the denial of a gaming license, and if it did have the authority, it did not have a process to reconsider the denial of a gaming license.”
In response, the commission opened a comment period for residents. It is asking whether it should review “the status of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe’s litigation regarding land in trust, and the status of proposed federal legislation on the issue.”
Other questions address whether there is a demand for a new casino in the region; whether former agreements related to the bid process should be considered valid, whether past votes by host communities would be considered valid and whether a new element should be added to the mix: sports betting and daily fantasy sports.
The comment period will end November 30. Comments will be accepted by email of postal mail.
A complication to rehearing the Brockton proposal is the fact that the commission didn’t just reject it because of the tribe’s casino, but because the developer “did not articulate a clear vision or provide any well-developed plans as to how it would achieve the same quality of results in Brockton as it has at its properties in other jurisdictions.”
Mashpee Tribal Chairman Cedric Cromwell congratulated the panel on “not allowing themselves to be bullied.” He added, “It’s also a relief to hear the gaming commission will not automatically entertain the shenanigans of a deceitful developer.”
Cromwell is referring to Neil Bluhm, owner of Rush Street Gaming, which has financed some of the lawsuit by residents of Taunton that has, for the moment, stalled the tribe’s progress.
A bill has been passed in the House but not in the Senate that would put the land into trust, bypassing the Interior Department.
Last week the Mashpee tribe filed a new lawsuit in U.S. District Court against the Interior Department, challenging its ruling that the tribe is ineligible to put the land into trust since that would violate the Supreme Court’s 2011 Carcieri v. Salazar ruling. At the same time the tribe’s attorney sought a stay in its appeal of the earlier judgement by a federal judge that the department used as the basis for its ruling.
