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\tPhilip Marcelo, Associated Press \u00b7 September 16, 2014 at 6:46 pm<\/p>\n
\tBOSTON (AP) \u2013 Wynn Resorts has won the competition for the lucrative Boston-area casino license, besting rival Mohegan Sun largely on the strength of its $1.6 billion project\u2019s economic development potential.<\/p>\n
\tThe Massachusetts Gaming Commission voted 3-to-1 Tuesday to award the license to the Las Vegas casino giant, which wants to turn a former chemical plant site on the Mystic River in Everett into a gleaming casino resort.<\/p>\n
\tA final vote is expected Wednesday after Wynn formally agrees to terms and conditions regulators have stipulated.<\/p>\n
\tThe license is the third the commission has issued. By law, it can authorize licenses for three regional resort casinos and one slot parlor.<\/p>\n
\tWynn Resorts Chairman and CEO Steve Wynn said in a statement he hopes the decision will help ease tense relations between the casino, Boston and some neighboring cities.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cWe expect that now that a decision has been made, everybody will find it much easier to relate to one another, get on with the job of creating jobs and building a better life for the citizens of Everett and the surrounding communities in the Greater Boston area,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\tEverett Mayor Carlo DeMaria said the resort, which Wynn touts as the largest private development project in state history, represents an enormous boost to his economically-struggling city.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cIt\u2019s going to be a snowball that just gets bigger and bigger,\u201d he said. \u201cYou won\u2019t recognize the city of Everett hopefully in ten years. We\u2019ll no longer be the butt-end of Boston.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tMohegan Sun, which had proposed a $1.1 billion casino at the Suffolk Downs horse racing track in Revere, said it was \u201cextremely disappointed\u201d and still believes its proposal \u201cmet or exceeded\u201d all the commission\u2019s conditions.<\/p>\n
\tRegulators rated the tribe-owned casino\u2019s plan lower because it appeared more focused on drawing revenue from Boston-area residents and not encroaching on its flagship Connecticut casino\u2019s customer base.<\/p>\n
\tWithout the Mohegan Sun project, Suffolk Downs, the state\u2019s lone remaining thoroughbred horse racing track, said it would likely be forced to close, \u201cresulting in unemployment and uncertainty for many hard-working people.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tMeanwhile, anti-casino activists called Wynn\u2019s proposal \u201cincredibly flawed\u201d and \u201cwrapped in controversy.\u201d They urged voters to approve November\u2019s ballot question to repeal the state\u2019s casino law and effectively prevent projects like Wynn\u2019s resort from opening altogether.<\/p>\n
\tTuesday\u2019s decision caps months of public scrutiny over the two high-profile plans.<\/p>\n
\tWynn, notably, faced allegations that convicted criminals would profit from its deal to purchase the Everett land, in violation of state gambling regulations. But the commission\u2019s investigative staff determined the company had sufficiently addressed those concerns.<\/p>\n
\tWynn also feuded publicly with Boston Mayor Martin Walsh\u2019s administration.<\/p>\n
\tIn a statement, the mayor said his administration is evaluating the panel\u2019s decision. He said Wynn\u2019s current financial compensation offer to Boston, which it upped to more than $75 million on Tuesday, remains unacceptable.<\/p>\n
\tWynn conceded to a number of demands from regulators during the final proceedings, including an agreement to propose alternate designs for its 27-story glass hotel tower. The company also agreed to pay more toward long-term plans to address traffic through Sullivan Square in nearby Boston.<\/p>\n
\tThe commissioners ultimately were convinced Wynn\u2019s plan better fit what state lawmakers had envisioned when they passed legislation in 2011 allowing for casinos. Commissioners noted that Wynn promised to pay workers better wages and proposed spending millions of dollars more in construction costs than Mohegan Sun.<\/p>\n
\tActing Gaming Commission Chairman James McHugh, the lone voice of dissent, expressed doubts that the Wynn project could actually open on time, given the challenges in addressing Boston\u2019s traffic concerns and the environmental cleanup on the roughly 30-acre site.<\/p>\n
\tPreviously, the commission awarded licenses to MGM Resorts International for an $800 million resort in Springfield, pending the November repeal vote; and to Penn National Gaming for its $225 million slots parlor project at the Plainridge harness racing track in Plainville.<\/p>\n
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Philip Marcelo, Associated Press \u00b7 September 16, 2014 at 6:46 pm BOSTON (AP) \u2013 Wynn Resorts has won the competition for the lucrative Boston-area casino license, besting rival Mohegan Sun largely on the strength of its $1.6 billion project\u2019s economic…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8026","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-latest-casino-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8026","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/36"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8026"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8026\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8026"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8026"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8026"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}