Over the next five to nine months, the Massachusetts Gaming Commission will be reviewing the 11 proposals it received by the Jan. 15 deadline for the first phase of the two-phase gaming license application process.

The commission will determine each applicant’s suitability to proceed to the second and more substantive part of the process, where detailed proposals for casinos and slots facilities will be evaluated on their merits.

The commission is also continuing to work on regulations that will be necessary for the second phase of the application process, including policies relevant to potential host and surrounding communities. The commission indicates that it plans to issue the Phase 2 regulations sometime this summer.

On Jan. 17, the Gaming Commission discussed a draft regulation further defining the term “surrounding communities” and decided to solicit public comment on the matter.

The definition will be included in regulations the commission will promulgate later this year, after a required public hearing process.

The draft regulation can be found on the commission’s website (www.mass.gov/gaming), and comments must be received no later than 2 p.m. on Feb. 11. Comments should be submitted by email to mgccomments@state.ma.us with “Surrounding Communities” in the subject line.

The commission stated that it will consider the public comments at a meeting in early February.

On Jan. 15, the commission announced that the applicants for a resort-casino license in Region A (Greater Boston) are Suffolk Downs in Boston, Wynn LLC in Everett, and Crossroads Massachusetts in Milford, and the applicants in Region B (western Massachusetts) are MGM Springfield, Hard Rock MA in West Springfield, Penn National Gaming in Springfield, and Mohegan Sun in Palmer.

The applicants for a slot parlor license are the Plainridge Racecourse in Plainville and Raynham Park in Raynham.

Two applicants did not specify a location or type of license sought: Mass Gaming Entertainment and PPE Casino Resorts.

Each applicant in Phase 1 submitted a non-refundable fee of $400,000 along with extensive background information.

The commission denied four requests for a deadline extension from entities with an interest in Region B.

In December, the commission considered voting on a parallel process for Region C (southeastern Massachusetts) that would allow commercial applications to proceed while the Mashpee Wampanoag and the state work to resolve federal hurdles in the way of the proposed tribal casino in Taunton. The commission decided, however, to postpone a vote on the matter for 90 days, to its March 15 meeting.

+
+