It is a perplexing hypothetical question for the four state gambling commissioners responsible for awarding the Greater Boston casino license: What if two commissioners prefer the Wynn Resorts casino project in Everett, while the other two insist the license go to a rival Mohegan Sun proposal in Revere?
With commission chairman Stephen P. Crosby recusing himself from the decision, there would be no swing vote to break a tie.
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The possibility of gridlock is real enough that commissioners announced Thursday that they would come up with a tie-breaking procedure before the four commissioners begin deliberations later this summer.
“We realize there are four of us,” said Commissioner James McHugh, who chaired the portion of Thursday’s commission meeting that focused on the Boston-area resort casino license. “We’re aware of the concern about what happens if there is a deadlock.”
McHugh downplayed the possibility of a tie vote, noting the commission has had 121 meetings, probably averaging about two votes per meeting, and rarely has had a split vote.
“I think one can count on the fingers of both of their hands the number of times it has not been unanimous,” McHugh said.
While it is true that the commission has done nearly everything through consensus since the panel was formed more than two years ago, the board had a rare split vote on its most important decision to date: the only time it awarded a license.
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In February, the commissioners were deeply divided over the award of the state’s only slot machine parlor license. After lengthy deliberations, a Penn National Gaming project in Plainville won the slots license in a 3-to-2 vote over a rival proposal by Cordish Cos., which had planned a slot parlor in Leominster.
To head off a possible deadlock on the Greater Boston license, which is the state’s most lucrative, the commission’s staff will spend the next two weeks studying ways other boards and commissions break tie votes when they have an even number of members. The commission will then consider options for breaking a tie.
“The possibility of a deadlock is very small,” said Commissioner Enrique Zuniga. “But it is important to think about.”
Crosby removed himself last week from the debate over casino proposals in Greater Boston, acknowledging that some of his recent actions, including his attendance at a party at Suffolk Downs, the racetrack where Mohegan Sun wants to build its Revere casino, had raised questions about his impartiality.
“The right thing to do is to recuse myself,’’ he said last week.
Crosby had already recused himself from one portion of the ongoing licensing debate in Greater Boston: He withdrew in December from a commission review of the Wynn Resorts land deal in Everett, because Crosby is a former business partner of one of the owners of the proposed casino site, Paul Lohnes.
Last fall, gambling giant Caesars Entertainment sued Crosby and others, alleging he was biased against the company because of his ties to Lohnes, who would benefit if Wynn were to win the license. Suffolk Downs had dropped Caesars as its casino development partner last fall after state investigators raised red flags in the company’s mandatory state background check.