The uncertainty of the future of the Mashpee Wampanoag’s First Light Resort and Casino in Taunton, is putting pressure on the Massachusetts Gaming Commission to reopen the examination of the 7 million proposal for the Brockton fairgrounds that it denied a license in April.
Rush Street Gaming’s principal Neil Bluhm said last week that he is ready and willing to bring the proposal back to the MGC, and to begin work building it almost immediately if it gets the go ahead. Brockton is 20 miles from Taunton.
The $1 billion casino that the tribe wants to build with the financial backing of the Genting Group has been in limbo ever since a federal judge ruled that the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs acted incorrectly when it put over 300 acres into trust for the tribe, including 151 acres in Taunton. The tribe broke ground in April and had planned an accelerated building program with a projected opening of the summer of 2017. Then it ran into the wall of the adverse court judgment.
Judge William Young from the United States District Court For The District Of Massachusetts wrote in his decision that the U.S. Department of the Interior had disregarded the 2009 Carcieri v Salazar decision of the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled that tribes recognized after 1934—the year of the Indian Reorganization Act—could not put land into trust. The federal government granted recognition to the Mashpees in 2007.
The tribe stopped almost all construction activities while it pondered its legal options.
One of the principal reasons the commission gave for turning down Bluhm’s proposal in April was its close approximation to Taunton and the competition it would face from it. The tribe plans to have 1,900 slot machines and 60 gaming tables.
Tribes that have achieved federal recognition don’t require state approval for a casino, however if the tribe operates under the state compact it negotiated with the state it would pay 16 percent of its profits to the state, compared to 0 percent if it has competition in the region. On the other hand the Bluhm proposal, being a commercial casino, would pay a full 24 percent to the state. It would immediately pay an $85 million licensing fee, if approved.
Last week the Boston Globe interviewed Brockton Mayor Bill Carpenter who strongly believes the commission should reopen the books on Rush Street Gaming’s proposal. Especially since neighboring Rhode Island has a ballot proposition that would authorize a slots parlor in Tiverton, less than 40 miles away.
He told the Globe: “To sit by idly while the state next to you grabs the market, that would be hard to justify to taxpayers.” He added, “I hope the Massachusetts Gaming Commission would give reconsideration to our application. That would be the fair and equitable thing to do. We are a poor majority-minority city with a lot of families that need the kind of jobs a casino would create.”
Bluhm agrees that the city of Brockton could use the jobs. “A casino in Brockton will be a catalyst for economic development and also contribute badly needed tax revenue to the Commonwealth,” he said.
A spokesman for the commission noted that the panel has the authority to reopen the process: “The statute is clear, the Massachusetts Gaming Commission has the authority at any time to choose to conduct a commercial process for the award of a license in southeastern Massachusetts.”
Judging from recent statements by Commission Chairman Stephen Crosby, the MGC prefers to “sit tight” and see how the process unrolls with the tribe’s possible legal appeal.
Impacts of Gaming Study
When the Massachusetts legislature adopted the gaming expansion act of 2011 it called for frequently updated studies upon the impact of gambling on the state—possibly the first state to make such a requirement.
Now that casinos are beginning to open in the Bay State, the results of a study of their social and economic impacts have begun—with the first results released last week. The study includes more than just casino gaming. It also takes in daily fantasy sports, lottery and horse racing.
It shows that men are three times as likely to develop a gambling addiction than women and blacks are four times as likely as whites to have such a problem.
The study also shows that casinos have a positive influence on jobs, housing, tax revenues and increased tourism.
A full briefing on the student was scheduled for this week at the State House. The study was conducted by University of Massachusetts School of Public Health and funded by public funds collected from casino licenses.
Lawmakers and members of the Massachusetts Council of Compulsive Gambling are among those invited to attend.
Another Slots Parlor
An initiative on the November statewide ballot that would allow a second slots parlor to be located in the state, near an existing racetrack, is drawing the fire of two organizations normally not found on the same side: MGM Resorts International and Wynn Resorts Ltd.
If the initiative, dubbed “Question 1,” passes it would authorize developer Eugene McCain, reportedly a resident of Thailand, to build a casino in Revere, near the Suffolk Downs racetrack. In the meantime he has also collected the signatures to schedule a local initiative in Revere on October 18.
Besides convincing the voters he would also have to convince the Massachusetts Gaming Commission to issue a license—something that the initiative doesn’t guarantee.
The original 2011 legislation allowed for three casino resorts and one slots parlor, which was eventually sited in Plainville.
A Revere slots parlor would be a very short distance from the Wynn Boston Harbor, the $2.1 billion casino resort that Wynn is building in Everett, on the banks of the Mystic River. That facility is due to open in 2019.
The MGM Springfield, the $950 million facility rising in the city’s South End, is scheduled to open about two years from now. It will have 3,000 slots and 75 gaming tables.
MGM Springfield CEO and President Mike Mathis told New England Public Radio last week, “We think the 2011 legislation set the ground rules and we think it needs to be respected.” He added, “Geographically, that’s not as much a concern for us here is western Massachusetts but, you know, we think that it’s a really good piece of legislation and you shouldn’t tinker with it.”
Earlier in the week Wynn Resorts announced its opposition to Question 1. Wynn executive Robert DeSalvio declared, “We came into Massachusetts understanding there would be three casinos and one slots parlor under state law, not three casinos and two slots parlors.”
