| Last-minute concessions by Las Vegas casino mogul Steve Wynn helped tip the scales in favor of an Everett casino as state regulators voted to award the high-stakes casino license for Greater Boston.
The Massachusetts Gaming Commission voted 3-1 Tuesday to award the Greater Boston license to Wynn Resorts, which plans for a $1.6 million casino and five-star hotel on the Mystic River in Everett. Wynn’s plan had competed with Mohegan Sun’s proposed $1.3 billion casino next to Suffolk Downs racetrack in Revere.
Commissioners were meeting Wednesday morning to finalize the agreement with Wynn.
On Tuesday, commissioners Gayle Cameron, Enrique Zuniga and Bruce Stebbins voted for the Wynn plan, although Cameron voiced concerns about "great risks" that could hold up the Everett casino. Commissioner James McHugh voted for the Mohegan Sun plan, questioning whether the Everett casino can overcome permitting and environmental hurdles and improve its relationship with neighboring communities.
"Wynn is surrounded by communities that do not have a great deal of support for their effort," McHugh said.
Wynn got a boost this week when former Gov. William Weld lobbied the commission on behalf of the Everett proposal. Weld argued that the project would help clean up the 30-acre former chemical factory site and improve traffic jams in Boston’s Sullivan Square, which is expected to receive much of the casino traffic from the south.
On Tuesday, Wynn agreed to pay up to $76 million to the city of Boston for road improvements designed to minimize the effects of casino traffic in Boston. The city has an existing plan to redesign the Sullivan Square traffic circle as part of a planned redevelopment of the neighborhood.
The rejection of the Suffolk Downs plan could result in the loss of over 1,000 jobs, racetrack executive Chip Tuttle said after the vote. The track had not been profitable since 2006, Tuttle said, and been counting on the casino as a lifeline amid steadily declining business.
"We will be meeting with employees and horsemen over the next several days to talk about how we wind down racing operations as a 79-year legacy of thoroughbred racing in Massachusetts will be coming to an end, resulting in unemployment and uncertainty for many hard-working people," Tuttle said in a statement.
The gambling law passed by the state Legislature and signed by Gov. Deval Patrick in 2011 calls for three major casinos in different regions of the state. The western Massachusetts license was awarded in June to MGM Resorts which plans an $800-million casino in downtown Springfield. No action has been taken on the Southeastern Massachusetts license.
Commissioners rated Wynn’s proposal higher in economic benefits, with an estimated 3,287 new full-time jobs, compared with Mohegan Sun’s projected 2,538. They also favored Wynn’s financial capacity to build the resort over the Mohegan Sun’s.
On Nov. 4, voters statewide will decide a ballot question that would repeal the casino law. A pair of recent polls had the repeal effort trailing by double digits.
Material from the Statehouse News Service was included in this report.
