Who is a member?
Our members are the local governments of Massachusetts and their elected and appointed leadership.
Implementation of the state’s expanded gaming law continues to move forward, particularly the process for awarding the state’s sole slots-parlor license, which is expected in January.
On Oct. 4, the Massachusetts Gaming Commission received the three final slots applications, from Raynham Park for a facility in Raynham, Cordish Companies in Leominster, and Penn National in Plainville.
Each applicant received a positive suitability recommendation from the commission in the first phase of the application process, and each proposal received a favorable vote in a local referendum in its host community.
Each final application is being evaluated on five key criteria: overview of project, finance, economic development, building and site design, and mitigation.
The public portions of the applications are available at massgaming.com, as are recordings of the proposal presentations that each applicant made to the commission on Oct. 7.
At that meeting, the commission voted to extend the deadline to Oct. 31 for a nearby community to petition the commission for the “surrounding community” designation. (The deadline had been Oct. 14.)
Gaming license applicants have the primary responsibility for determining whether a community is a “surrounding community” to be included in its application, but the Gaming Act also establishes a procedure for the commission to decide whether a community is a “surrounding community,” even when an applicant has not done so.
These designated municipalities will negotiate with the applicant a surrounding community agreement to mitigate expected impacts, if they have not already done so.
On Oct. 17, Gaming Commission Chair Stephen Crosby announced that the slots-parlor license would likely be awarded on Jan. 10, rather than the previous target date of Dec. 31, in order to allow adequate time for the surrounding community designation and negotiation process. He said “fairness, equity and transparency” are a higher priority than maintaining the original schedule.
In late October, the commission held a series of public input meetings in communities adjacent to a potential host community for a slots-parlor. Public hearings on each proposal were being planned in each prospective host community.
Meanwhile, the House voted in October to approve the governor’s renegotiated compact with the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe, which is seeking to build a resort-casino in Taunton.
The original compact, negotiated by the governor and the tribe last year and approved by the Legislature, was rejected by the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs because the revenue-sharing provision was deemed too favorable to the state. This initial agreement awarded to the state an unconditional 21.5 percent of all gaming revenue generated at the tribal resort-casino.
The new compact, negotiated this past spring, would provide the state with a 21 percent share of all gaming revenue generated at the tribal resort-casino if there are no other resort-casinos in the state. The share would drop to 17 percent if a resort-casino is built in another region (as is expected), with a 2 percent reduction if a slots parlor opens in the region. If a commercial casino is built in the region, the tribe would not share any gaming revenue with the state.
The Senate was expected to vote on the compact by the end of October. If the agreement is approved, the Bureau of Indian Affairs would once again examine its terms to ensure that the tribe’s interests are sufficiently protected.
The commission voted to open up southeastern Massachusetts, or Region C, to a parallel commercial resort-casino application process in April, and the deadline for commercial applicants to submit a Phase 1 application in the region was Sept. 30. KG New Bedford submitted an application with a non-refundable application fee of $400,000.
Applicants for resort-casinos in other regions may choose to pursue Region C pending the outcome of their current proposals.
The commission has stated that it will make its ultimate decision on whether to issue a commercial license in the region based in part on the progress of the tribal resort-casino development process.