The Massachusetts Gaming Commission, in its latest timetable revision, expects to award a lucrative Greater Boston resort casino license by mid-September.
Vying for the most profitable of three licenses under the state's 2011 enabling legislation are Mohegan Sun and Wynn Resorts, who have bid for $1 billion casinos in Revere and Everett, respectively. Both communities border Boston's northern neighborhoods.
The commission last week designated Boston as a "surrounding," rather than host community for both applications, meaning city officials can negotiate for mitigation and other funding.
The five-member panel has scheduled its next public hearing for 10:30 a.m. Thursday at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center.
Massachusetts officials hope to generate up to $400 million annually when the three regional casinos - strategically placed amid a crowded Northeast gambling market -- and one slots parlor are up and running.
Commission chairman Stephen Crosby earlier this month said he would recuse himself from the Boston vote after publicity surrounding his attendance at a private Kentucky Derby party Saturday at Suffolk Downs horse racing track. Suffolk Downs is the venue for Mohegan Sun's proposal.
Last fall, Caesar's Entertainment, which withdrew its proposal for Suffolk Downs over concerns that it would fail a commission background check, sued Crosby, alleging conflict of interest after Crosby admitted to a longtime business and personal relationship with Paul Lohnes, a co-owner of the competing Everett side.
Steve Wynn's Wynn Resorts has proposed a 29-acre resort along the Mystic River in Everett, on a contaminated former Monsanto Chemical site.
Crosby said he would not resign outright. "The bottom line on that I sure, I've thought about it and it's not going to happen," Crosby, the founding dean of the McCormack Graduate School of Policy and Global Studies at the University of Massachusetts-Boston, told reporters after the May 15 commission meeting.
His recusal raises the question of how to break a 2-2 deadlock, which the panel is expected to discuss Thursday, though most commission votes have been unanimous. "I'm very confident that we have the ability, as a group of four, to make these decisions and do it well," said Commissioner Gayle Cameron.
One split vote came in late February when the panel voted 3-2 to award the lone statewide slots parlor license to Penn National Gaming Inc. of Wyomissing, Pa. Penn National plans to build a 106,000 square-foot addition to Plainridge Racecourse harness racing track in Plainville, Mass., just north of Rhode Island.
Moody's Investors Service, in an August report, said the Massachusetts gambling licenses pose both a threat and an opportunity for Connecticut's two casino operators, Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority and Mashantucket Pequot Tribe, which operate Mohegan Sun and Foxwoods Resort Casinos, respectively. Foxwoods is interested in the Native American set-aside region, southeastern Massachusetts.
The Springfield area will also get a casino.
