‘This is the crown jewel,’ commissioner says
The members of the Massachusetts Gaming Commission laid out on Thursday the framework they will follow in choosing the winner of the Greater Boston casino license, a complex, multi-day, public deliberation that the commissioners said was going to involve very difficult choices.
The commissioners are choosing between Mohegan Sun’s casino proposal for Revere and the Wynn Resorts proposal for Everett. Both companies are promising to invest well north of $1 billion in their projects and employ thousands of workers. Which one will return the most money to the state? Which one will have the least impact on the region’s transportation infrastructure? Which one will spur additional local development?
There are also intangibles to consider. Would the state be better off with Mohegan Sun, a company that operates a casino in nearby Connecticut, or Wynn, a Las Vegas operator that would be a newcomer to the area? The Mohegan Sun project is a team affair, with a private equity company holding the majority stake in the casino and a host of other companies involved in the project’s development. Wynn, by contrast, does nearly everything itself in-house. Is there an advantage to either approach?
And then there’s Suffolk Downs. Mohegan Sun says its selection as the licensee will guarantee that the horse track continues operating for another 15 years; Wynn says horse racing is dying and it makes no sense to base a casino licensing decision on the fate of a fading track. The commissioners didn’t discuss any of these issues on Thursday, but they’ve been thinking about them for months.
“What makes it hard is this is the crown jewel. Region A has the most market potential and the stakes are higher,” said commission member Enrique Zuniga, referring to the Greater Boston region.
Commissioner Bruce Stebbins said what makes the decision so difficult is that both Revere and Everett desperately want a casino in their communities, but only one of them will get it. “For me, it is going to be a hard choice,” he said.
Commissioners Gayle Cameron and James McHugh indicated the choice between Wynn and Mohegan Sun will be difficult, but shied away from characterizing how difficult the choice would be personally for them.
“We have two qualified applicants. That was our plan,” said McHugh. “We thought competition would improve the packages presented to us.”
The commissioners said they plan to begin deliberations on September 8 and award the license on September 12, but they acknowledged the deadline could slip by a few days if issues that arise during the deliberations prove difficult to resolve. For example, the commissioners expect to impose certain conditions on the would-be casino licensees, but the casino developers will be given the opportunity to respond in writing to those conditions, which could be time consuming.
One of the concerns as the commissioners prepare to make their licensing decision is Boston. Boston pulled out of negotiations with Wynn over a mitigation package and decided to cede that job to the commission. McHugh said the commission can impose a Boston mitigation package on Wynn as a condition of receiving a license, but he declined to discuss how he and the other commissioners intend to do that.
McHugh did say that most communities near the two casino projects have negotiated with the developers for mitigation money as well as other benefits. Boston, for example, won a commitment from Mohegan Sun to pay the city $20 million a year and buy $50 million worth of products from Boston-based vendors annually. McHugh said the commission’s focus will be on mitigating the impact of a casino on Boston, suggesting add-ons such as purchasing commitments might not be a priority.
“We are not negotiating on behalf of Boston,” McHugh said. “It’s mitigation conditions. We’re the regulators. We’re not advocates for one side or the other.”