Whether the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe of Massachusetts will ultimately be able to build a $1 billion casino in Taunton could be decided this week by a vote in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Building the First Light Resort and Casino requires putting land in Taunton into trust, making it reservation land. The Department of the Interior did that once, in 2015. It was forced to backtrack on that decision a year later after some neighbors in Taunton sued, challenging the tribe’s historical ability to put land into trust. They won in federal court. That lawsuit was funded, at least in part by Rush Street Gaming, which would like to build a commercial casino in the state’s southeastern gaming zone, Zone C, but can only do so if the tribe’s casino plans are permanently thwarted.
Now, the only sure way of putting the casino back on track is for Congress to do so by legislative fiat.
The bill authored by Massachusetts Rep. William Keating has been voted out of committee in the House and is set for a full vote of that Chamber this week. Although the Bay State’s delegation favors the bill, the representatives of neighboring Rhode Island consider it a threat to their two casinos.
Governor Gina Raimondo of Rhode Island also sent a representative to testify before lawmakers about the effect the Taunton casino would have on what is the third largest source of revenue for the Ocean State.
That prompted this jab by Keating: “Put simply, Rhode Island decided that protection of their casino revenue is more important than the long-term existence of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe.” His arguments won the day and the House Natural Resources Subcommittee voted to send H.R. 312 to House floor in a strong bipartisan vote.
The action by the subcommittee earned the praise of Mashpee Chairman Cedric Cromwell, “Today’s action by the House Natural Resources Committee provides an incredible lift for my people. The remarkable bipartisan support of the legislation has served to be a unifying force not only across Indian Country but across the United States of America.”
Just as Rush Street Gaming’s owner billionaire Neil Bluhm funded the lawsuit that challenged the Mashpees’ land into trust process, so has he funded lobbying to try to stop H.R. 312.
