The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court has dismissed a large part of the lawsuit brought by the Mohegan Sun and city of Revere against the Massachusetts Gaming Commission for alleged violations of the Opening Meeting Law in its licensing of Wynn to build its Wynn Boston Harbor in Everett.
The court left in place one piece for review. No matter which way the court rules it is seen as unlikely to affect the license or the ongoing construction project.
Everett Mayor Carlo Maria commented, “This project will continue on schedule due to the dramatic positive impact it is already having on our economy.” He added, “Everett was recently named one of the top 10 places to live. Our property values are increasing dramatically. Our bond rating is the highest it has ever been. It is also complementing additional investment, including the new Envision Hotel opening in April, new luxury apartments, new and expanded breweries, restaurants and function halls. Wynn is also returning our waterfront to the residents of Everett by creating acres of accessible open space along our rivers. I commend the Massachusetts Gaming Commission for their foresight and commitment to this great $2.4 billion investment.”
A judge in 2015 dismissed all but one count in the case, a certiorari review. That included dismissing most of Revere’s claim of the Open Meeting Violation. The Supreme Judicial Court reversed that and allowed the Open Meeting Claim to be reviewed.
The court declared, “This chart depicts, albeit with somewhat less precision and detail than the full calendar entries, numerous additional potential violations of the open meeting law,” however the city of Revere will no longer have standing in court to showed that it suffered losses as a result of the commission’s decision. The court did write in a footnote:
“By no means does this belittle the loss that the city suffered when the Commission ultimately awarded the region A license to Wynn and not Mohegan Sun,” and added, “The potential economic benefits to the city, discussed at length in its brief, were substantial. But the city loses sight of the fact that these benefits were never more than potential, and always were contingent upon Mohegan Sun’s receipt of a license that the commission had ‘full discretion’ not to award.”
The Mohegan Sun praised the decision as allowing them to move forward to show that the process was flawed. “This decision affirms our belief that the licensing process was flawed, and the decisions of the Massachusetts Gaming Commission are not immune from further review,” said Kevin Brown, chairman of the Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority.
The commission said it is ready to defend itself again: “The commission remains fully confident that this complex licensing process was executed in a manner that was comprehensive, fair and highly transparent,” read the statement. “As the commission has repeatedly demonstrated and subsequently validated by every concluded legal action to date, each license award was based solely on a thoughtful, objective and exhaustive evaluation of each gaming proposal. We will continue to vigorously defend our process in trial court and will prove that the commission’s decision-making is firmly guided by the law and strongly grounded in the best interests of the commonwealth.”
The high court’s decision remands the remainder of the cases to the Suffolk Superior Court, where they originated.
MGM Springfield
Last week MGM held a “topping off” ceremony for the $950 million MGM Springfield, an event when the final steel beam is raised on the structure. VIPs including MGM Springfield President Michael Mathis, Mayor Domenic Sarno, state regulators and labor representatives attended.
Seth Stratton, MGM Springfield vice president and general counsel, commented, “Given the relatively mild winters we’ve had and the highly organized and very motivated team, we’re on schedule for our September 2018 opening.”
The casino, which will have 3,000 slots and 100 table games, is looking at a fall 2018 opening.
