Gaming commission will not guarantee a casino license in southeastern Mass.

By Adam Vaccaro

Boston.com Staff | 09.24.15 | 2:07 PM

The state Gaming Commission declined Thursday to make a definitive decision any time soon about its two-casino quandary in southeastern Massachusetts.

The Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe received a needed federal approval last week, giving the tribe sovereignty over hundreds of acres of land. The decision made it all the more likely it would open a casino in Taunton. A tribal casino would not need a state license to open, and would be located just 30 minutes away from a Brockton site where applicants are vying for the region’s sole casino license.

That possibility has brought new urgency to a question the commission long knew it could face: Should it go forward with licensing a commercial casino, opening up the very real possibility that there would be two casinos in the same region?

Even before the federal decision was made, Mass Gaming & Entertainment, the applicant in Brockton, had asked the commission to promise it would issue a casino license in the region regardless of what happened with the tribe.

Commissioners unanimously agreed Thursday to make no such declaration, instead saying they would stay the course in the licensing process.

Staying the course means a final decision on whether to license Mass Gaming & Entertainment by early March, if things go according to schedule. The tribal news would serve as a major consideration during that decision-making process, commissioners said.

“That will be one of the things we will weigh,” commission chairman Stephen Crosby said.

Crosby said the commission always knew that the tribal casino could complicate the licensing process in the region. And it has cautioned throughout the process that it could opt not to issue a license in the region.

“We knew it was coming, might be coming, any time,” Crosby said of the federal decision.

Commissioner James McHugh said a number of factors will need to be considered, including the effect to state coffers if both casinos opened. The tribe has agreed to pay the state 17 percent of its gaming revenue if it is the only casino in the region, but would pay nothing if another casino opened in southeastern Massachusetts. The Brockton applicant would need to pay 25 percent regardless.

Casino experts told Boston.com earlier this week such a scenario would represent a major advantage for the tribal casino, which could ultimately affect the state’s gaming earnings.

McHugh added that he would also want to review the likelihood that two casinos could mean more jobs in the state. Crosby said commissioners also need to consider the possibility that the tribe could be delayed from opening by lawsuits.

Mass Gaming & Entertainment said following the commission’s meeting that it would still pursue the license.

“We intend to make a strong case for why our proposed casino resort in Brockton is in the best interests of the Commonwealth,” the company said in a statement.

The southeast is the last of the state’s three regions to issue a resort casino license. In the Greater Boston area, Wynn Resorts plans to open a casino in Everett. In Western Massachusetts, MGM Resorts is licensed to open in Springfield. The state’s lone slots parlor license belongs to Penn National Gaming, which opened its Plainville venue in June.

Vintage images of Cape Cod:

There's a timelessness to the natural beauty of Cape Cod that keeps visitors coming back year after year. Take a look back at some images of the summer hotspot from decades past. The Trustees of the Boston Public Library

Buzzard's Bay Bridge on July 11, 1928.

The Boston Globe/File

Construction progress was made on the Bourne Bridge in 1934. The gateway to the Cape would be completed and opened the following year.

The Boston Globe/File

Walking in the Provincetown sand dunes in 1977.

Ted Dully/Globe Staff/File 1977

An old Dutch windmill was assembled in 1971 at Aptuxet Trading Post in Bourne. The windmill was imported from Holland in 1896 by actor Joe Jefferson, a friend and fishing partner of President Grover Cleveland.

Associated Press/File

Downtown Hyannis in May 1934, waiting for the summer crush of tourists.

Edmunds E. Bond/Globe Staff/File 1934

As legend has it, Vikings may have landed on Cape Cod hundreds of years before the Pilgrims, and in an attempt to score some evidence, some Yarmouth residents dug for possible remains of a Viking ship in 1952.

The Boston Globe/File

Two men stood on a rock in Follins Pond, where some believe Viking ships were moored.

The Boston Globe/File

Workers walked the plank in 1934, sanding a cranberry bog in Harwich.

Edmunds E. Bond/Globe Staff/File 1934

Robert J. Powers, 11, in 1971, of South Weymouth, waited nearly a half-hour in line at Bonatt’s Bakery & Restaurant in Harwichport to enjoy his favorite pastry, the famed Bonatt "meltaway."

Stanley A. Bauman/Globe Staff/File 1971

A Provincetown clam shack in 1970.

Ed Jenner/Globe Staff/File 1970

A 1961 scene on Craigville Beach in Barnstable.

the Boston Globe / File 1961

A street scene from Provincetown in 1970.

The Boston Globe/File

A counselor kept youngsters in line at a Hyannis camp in 1959.

The Boston Globe/File

While Cheryl Nowick and Joan Fanaria, pupils of the Wixon Middle School in Dennis viewed their own art work at Dennis Spring Art Festival in 1974, the judges gave a concerned appraisal of the school's display on the opposite side.

Stanley A. Bauman/Globe Staff/File 1974

Passengers in their autos drove aboard Baxter’s barge for voyage to Nantucket Island in 1960.

Associated Press/ File

The Rev. John H. Williams, right, led a drive-in worship service at Hyannis Drive-In Theatre in 1987. Harry Faher was the organist at left.

John Blanding/Globe Staff/File 1987

A shipwreck washed up on Nauset Beach in Cape Cod in 1964.

Claire Griffin/Globe Staff/1964

Harry Kemp, "Poet of the Dunes," pointed to prose he erected in Provincetown to put tourists straight on their history.

A picnic in the dunes of Cape Cod in 1963.

The boston Globe /File

A vintage Cape Cod scene from July 16, 1968.

Bob Combs/Globe Staff/File 1968

A Cape Cod scene from September 1, 1968.

The Boston Globe/File

In 1960, the Yachtsman Hotel was festooned with bunting and a photo of Jack Kennedy for the arrival of the Kennedy staff.

The Boston Globe/File

"Salvagers gather rich harvest on Cape Cod beach," reads the caption to this April 28, 1942, photo.

Arthur Griffin/Globe Staff/File 1942

Summer neared an end after Labor Day on Quissett Beach in 1978.

David Ryan/Globe Staff/1978

Relaxing on Craigville Beach in 1974.

Phil Preston/Globe Staff/1974

Dune tours in Provincetown in 1980.

Ed Levy

A dog rode in the front seat of an Orleans police car in 1960.

Frank Falacci

A beat up sign showed the way to First Encounter beach.

File Photop

Members of the Chatham Yacht Club soaked up the sun on the porch of their new clubhouse which was dedicated in 1955.

File Photo

A woman enjoyed her privacy in a Provincetown alley in 1976.

Ulrike Welsch/Globe Staff/File 1976

Walter Young, talking with Ed Tucker, was a Chatham fisherman who also built many of the boats in the Chatham fleet. Photo from 1979.

Ed Levy/Globe Staff

A market in Chatham in 1977.

Peter Kramer

A snack shack worker waited for business in Provincetown in 1974.

Ted Dully/Globe Staff/File 1974

Town crier Fred Baldwin strolled on Commercial Street in Provincetown in 1969.

Steve Van Meter/Globe Staff/File 1969

Residents of Provincetown dressed as Pilgrims as they reenacted the first landing of the Pilgrms in the harbor on the tip of Cape Cod in 1953.

AP Photo

A 1974 street scene in Provincetown.

Phil Preston/Globe Staff/File 1974

A general view of Commercial Street in Provincetown, 1979.

Tom Landers/Globe Staff/File 1979

A Memorial Day weekend scene at a lake in Provincetown in 1971. "Memorial Day weekend is generally accepted as the ‘starting gun’ for the sleepers invasion of national seashore and national parklands," the caption reads.

Paul Robbins/UPI

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