THE MASSACHUSETTS GAMING COMMISSION said on Friday that it is considering breaking with its standard policy on issuing casino licenses to reassure investors behind a Brockton project.
The commission opened a seven-day comment period on the proposed policy change after a request by Mass Gaming and Entertainment LLC to ignore the possibility of a competing Mashpee Wampanoag facility in Taunton and issue the license as long as the firm meets the commission’s qualification requirements.
Attorney John Donnelly, whose firm represents Mass Gaming and Entertainment, which wants to build a casino at the Brockton Fairgrounds, made the request at the commission’s meeting Thursday in the wake of two confusing letters by the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs. The first letter, sent to the Taunton City Council, appeared to indicate the bureau would make a determination on the Wampanoag application to take land into trust for the casino by late September. The second letter, sent to Middleboro officials who are in a dispute with the tribe over land in that town, said the determination is not forthcoming. Even if the tribe is allowed to take land into trust, it could be difficult under existing federal law to build a casino.
Normally, the Gaming Commission reviews the suitability of an applicant for a casino license and then decides whether it would be beneficial to the state to issue the license. The situation is complicated in Region C, the commission’s designation for the southeastern portion of the state, by the fact that the Wampanoags are seeking to open a casino on tribal land that would be taxed at a much lower rate. The potential for a Wampanoag casino could affect the state’s interest in approving a commercial casino license in that area.
Mass Gaming and Entertainment wants the Gaming Commission to take the tribal casino issue off the table in deciding whether to issue a license. Donnelly asked the commission to support a change in the licensing process that “would not deny Mass Gaming and Entertainment LLC’s application for a Region C license merely because such land had been taken into trust for the Tribe prior to the issuance of such license,” according to the posting on the commission’s website seeking comments.
Commission Chairman Stephen Crosby said at the Thursday meeting the concern Donnelly raised appeared to indicate hesitation among the company’s investors who are casting a wary eye toward the progress of the tribe’s casino. He noted another applicant seeking to build a New Bedford waterfront casino previously withdrew from the competition, citing its inability to attract investors because of the looming uncertainty about the Wampanoag casino.
“The day this letter comes, your financing, it seems, got a little hinky,” Crosby said to Donnelly on Thursday.
Donnelly disputed Crosby’s interpretation, saying the group was on solid ground with cash flow.
“Financing is not an issue for this group,” Donnelley said emphatically. “There is no wiggle room” in that statement.
The request for public comments, which was posted late Friday afternoon on the commission’s website, sets a one-week deadline for submitting comments. The commission will then take up the matter at its next public meeting.