Mass Gaming and Entertainment has just been eliminated from the Massachusetts Casino tender. The operator had bad timing and failed to obtain a license for Brockton Casino in Massachusetts. After several attempts to accomplish the same, the operator lost another opportunity – this time for good.
Past Bids
The company and its chairman, Neil Bluhm, submitted the first proposal for Massachusetts Casino in 2016. At that time, Local Gaming Commission denied the offer with an explanation that the market was already overcrowded. The company made another attempt in 2018, but the Massachusetts regulator was too busy to reconsider the offer. At the same time, the local authority counted on MGM Springfield and Boston Encore projects which was an additional reason for rejection.
Mass Gaming didn’t give up its original intention and made the MA Commission re-examine its decision. The Local authority responded to the request and once again rejected the casino proposal with a 3:1 vote.
MGC Explanation
MGC announced that it didn’t have the authority to change the decision. According to the opinion of lawyers, the Commission has the legal possibility to revise the initial decision but it could become a bad precedent for upcoming situations.
Bluhm was completely disappointed about the result. He invested millions of dollars in Brockton and ended up with nothing. In his statement to the MGC, Bluhm observed:
“To vote that you are not going to reopen this under any circumstance, I don’t know how I can continue to hang in here on behalf of Brockton. I’ve spent millions of dollars. To deny this request, I think you lose me. I can’t hang around. I’ve been doing this for more than five years.”
Brockton Mayor, Moises Rodrigue, shared the same opinion. He sees Brockton results as “severe miscarriage of justice.” Moises added:
“We from the southeastern part of the state feel that Massachusetts ends around [Route] 128 and the rest of us are left with crumbs, we get crumbs, and we don’t have the ability to do much for ourselves because we often feel the state doesn’t do much to help us out. Any time an opportunity shows up or presents itself, for some odd reason the upper part of the state gets it, the western part of the state gets it, Boston gets it, and we are left with absolutely nothing.”
It becomes clear that MGC didn't want to change the original stance due to Massachusetts Indian tribe plans. The local Mashpee Wampanoag has been looking to launch a casino project in an area 20 miles away from Mass Gaming's proposed location. As the tribal idea came across several issues, the whole thing appeared on President Trump's Twitter account….
Source:
”Casino developer loses out on a bid for new Massachusetts casino“, Erik Gibbs, calvinayre.com, September 13, 2019.
