The Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe and their business partners seem to be working on a major redesign of their First Light casino, first proposed in Taunton in 2016. Image courtesy of Steelman Partners

After nearly two decades of hopes raised and dashed, the tribe that greeted the Pilgrims is once again pursuing the ultimate jackpot, a casino on reservation land.

In fact, the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe and their investors may actually be much further along in reviving plans to build a casino in Taunton than anyone else in Massachusetts realizes.

Genting Group, the deep-pocketed Malaysian company, has been huddling with tribal leaders since at least last fall on a bid to resurrect plans for a Southeastern Massachusetts gambling hall, corporate filings show.

Genting effectively walked away from its casino development deal with the Mashpee Wampanoag in 2019, writing off $425 million in debt after a series of legal setbacks brought construction of a tribal casino in Taunton grinding to a halt.

But in a significant about-face, Genting told shareholders at a meeting in Malaysia back in September it was “working closely” with the tribe on casino plans in anticipation of a favorable regulatory ruling by the Biden administration.

That duly came in late December, when the Biden administration’s Interior Department, as Genting had anticipated, reinstated the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe’s Taunton reservation rights, opening the door again to a potential casino on the land.

A Downsized Project

Neither the Boston area media or the national business press picked up on the shareholder meeting – and the news that planning for a Mashpee Wampanoag casino had restarted – at the time.

But it turns out not to have been the only sign that Genting and the tribe are back at work, drafting plans.

In June, tribal council members flew out to Las Vegas for the grand opening of Genting’s $4.3 billion Resorts World casino in Las Vegas, according to Reel Wamps, a long-running website that claims to be run by tribal dissidents.

Whether Genting and the Mashpee Wampanoag are sticking with original plans, which called for a Foxwoods-style resort on 140 acres the tribe owns in Taunton, is an open question, though.

In its report to shareholders last September that said they were “working closely” with the tribe, company executives spoke of efforts “to essentially design a facility in Massachusetts.”

Given that Genting and the tribe previously rolled out full-scale plans for a $1 billion First Light resort casino – plan that were advanced enough for construction crews to have briefly begun work in 2016 – this statement makes little sense.

Little sense, that is, unless a major redesign is in the works.

Reinforcing that idea, there has been significant grumbling in posts on the Reel Wamps website about an apparent shift in planning and “whether we are destined to have a real casino or a slot dump now.”

Beyond the issue of the tribe’s desires, a downscaling of plans makes market sense given there are already three casinos in Massachusetts, and three more in nearby Connecticut and Rhode Island.

That said Genting, which for years has operated the highly successful Resorts World casino in Queens in New York City, clearly sees a market opportunity, said Paul L. DeBole, an assistant professor of political science at Lasell University in Newton.

“Genting has the pulse of the gaming market in the Northeast region,” DeBole said. “They wouldn’t be putting more money in [to the Mashpee casino plan] if they weren’t more optimistic.”

Good for Investors, Bad for Tribe

But then there’s the issue of the tribe’s debt to Genting, which stands at least $600 million according to reporting by The Associated Press in January.

Crunching the numbers, it’s hard to see how The Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe comes out ahead if it finally succeeds in building a gambling complex, whether it’s a slots parlor or a full-blown resort.

The Malaysian corporate giant has good reason to want to revive the deal after having to write off those hundreds of millions of dollars in debt from its first casino venture with the tribe in 2019.

For Genting, finally getting the long-planned First Light casino built and open would provide a big financial boost, with one analyst projecting a 12 percent jump in the company’s stock price should construction of the casino restart.

But for the Mashpees? Maybe not so much. The tribe would be on the hook for roughly $62 million per year in interest payments alone on the debt, which carries an interest rate of 12 to 18 percent, according to an analyst’s report.

Oh, and by the way, Genting is also guaranteed the contract to manage the casino during its first seven years, in exchange for an additional cut of the profits.

Rev. Richard McGowan, an economist at Boston College and an expert on the gambling industry, said skepticism is justified.

Scott Van Voorhis

“A casino in Southeastern Massachusetts will hardly generate the profits needed to even pay the interest on those loans,” McGowan said, noting the already highly competitive gambling market in Southern New England.

So, will the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe find a jackpot at the end of the rainbow this time around, or just more fool’s gold?

Time will tell, but there are reasons to be wary.

Scott Van Voorhis is Banker & Tradesman’s columnist; opinions expressed are his own. He may be reached at sbvanvoorhis@hotmail.com.