Robert Kraft and Steve Wynn will soon find their biggest obstacle to hitting the casino jackpot is not rival developers with hopes of striking it rich, nor is it even a growing sense of popular animosity in Foxborough toward a casino.

Rather, for Kraft and Wynn – the Las Vegas mogul who wants to build a casino near Gillette Stadium – the biggest obstacle is nothing other than some of the innocuous-sounding provisions tucked into the legislation itself.

Forget all the hype about a bidding war by Las Vegas titans eager to break into the lucrative Massachusetts market. Yes, money talks, but the legislation gives a crucial edge – if not the overriding advantage – to developers best able get down and dirty in the mire of local politics.

And right now, it’s the politically connected business leaders and casino investors that are pushing casino plans for Suffolk Downs that have their hands most firmly on the local political levers.

“It looks like it is going to be a little difficult to do business in Massachusetts,” warns Paul DeBole, a senior policy advisor at Boston-based lobbying firm Brandon Assoc. who also teaches courses at Suffolk University. He said he fears a “regulatory morass” ahead.

Troubling Twists

Basically, if you can’t win over the local pols, then you can forget about building a casino – no matter how many billions you have in the bank.

For starters, all would-be Massachusetts casino developers must first win a referendum in the town or city they want to build in before they can call in the bulldozers.

And in Foxborough, that could be especially challenging.

The Krafts are widely admired in the business and sports world, and rightly so, for their leadership and devotion to philanthropic causes. But their relationship with Foxborough residents has at times been strained given the huge impact running an operation like Gillette Stadium can have on everything from traffic to noise.

Will a town where residents have long complained about concerts at the stadium – which, after all, are a relatively brief summertime nuisance – warm to having a 24/7 casino on the already congested Route 1, all public statements about its proposed modest size notwithstanding?

Moreover, just to change the zoning on the Kraft-owned site under consideration could take a two-thirds vote at Town Meeting.

Initial signs – including placard-waving protestors who popped up in Foxborough a couple days after news of the Wynn/Kraft deal surfaced, and the failure of two key zoning change proposals late last week – are not particularly encouraging.

And if that weren’t enough of a challenge, the legislation, in a rather troublesome twist, requires casino developers to reach an understanding with officials in neighboring towns.

But the legislation does not set a radius or any other measure to determine which towns should have a say and which towns shouldn’t – here in Massachusetts that could conceivably give officials in a liberal, anti-casino town the power hold up a project they don’t like, even if it is miles away.

Of course, that would never happen here in Massachusetts, now would it?

Insiders & Outsiders

But there are other dynamics in the emerging casino deal that may also spell trouble.

Wynn is charming – and immensely wealthy – and right now, he’s all about building a casino in Foxborough. But he is also a sharp businessman. And I think Wynn would probably decide he has better things to do than wind up in a small-town slugfest if that is where this all winds up.

His recent track record provides a few clues. Wynn pursued deals to build a slot palace in Queens and a casino in downtown Philadelphia. But when those deals got messy and contentious, the Las Vegas casino king – wisely, one might argue – opted to move on.

Wynn’s foray into Philadelphia lasted all but a few weeks. While it was a complicated situation, like Foxborough, it was a proposal that faced stiff opposition from residents and groups determined to battle it out.

By contrast, the well-connected group pushing casino plans at Suffolk Downs faces relatively smooth sailing when it comes to getting the local approvals it needs.

While Wynn is big, Caesars Entertainment, which has put a stake down at Suffolk, is just as gigantic. Moreover, it’s led by Gary Loveman, a former Harvard business school professor who splits his time between Vegas and a home in the Boston suburbs.

New York casino developer Richard Fields, who bought a lead stake in Suffolk, has spent years crafting plans and building a relationship with Mayor Thomas M. Menino. It doesn’t hurt that the other big local investor is none other than Joseph O’Donnell, a wealthy and well-connected local business leader and a good friend of the mayor’s

Menino has been an avid backer of the Suffolk casino plan – no worries about pesky, Foxborough-style zoning rules here.

And thanks to the casino legislation – hammered out by House Speaker Robert DeLeo, whose district includes the racetrack – winning the local approvals should not be overly onerous.

Money Vs. Politics

A provision in the bill lets developers with casino plans in cities larger than 125,000 skip the community-wide referendum and simply take a tally of the neighborhood.

Given the influence Suffolk holds over East Boston, from jobs to relationships with local restaurants, does anyone really think such a referendum would fail to pass?

But what about the clause that requires the deals with neighboring communities, you might ask?

Well in Suffolk’s case, many of the surrounding communities are in fact simply the other neighborhoods of Boston, and as the mayor goes – with maybe the exception of a harmless city councilor or two – so will they.

Of course, there is also Revere, but the mayor there has long been a supporter of slots. The city is also home to the now defunct Wonderland dog track, now controlled by Suffolk under a deal struck a few years back.

Yes, money will prove crucial, but it’s hard to see who has an advantage here, with Caesars backing Suffolk and Wynn teaming up with Kraft.

While there are three casino licenses available in Massachusetts, there is just one for the coveted Eastern Massachusetts/Greater Boston region.

We’ll see who wins, but in this case the winner may be the one who can get their hands the dirtiest in the muck of local politics.

If nothing else, it should all be very interesting to watch.