An artist’s rendering of the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe’s proposed $500 million casino in Taunton. The tribe hopes to secure the state’s sole casino license for the Southeast Region. (Photo courtesy of the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe)
MASHPEE – The Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe is hoping to begin site work associated with a casino resort in Taunton by this spring.
The federal Bureau of Indian Affairs approved the tribe’s land into trust application last week for land in Taunton and Mashpee, paving the way for their casino plan to move forward.
After speaking with tribal members Saturday morning, Chairman Cedric Cromwell talked about “Project First Light,” a 150,000 square foot casino with 3,000 slot machines, 150 table games and 40 poker tables.
Other resort amenities would include three hotels, a water park hotel among them. Several retail stores and multiple dining options are also part of the project.
“We’ve got a plan, we’re working toward a very strategic plan that I think is truly focused on building a best-in-class destination resort casino,” said Cromwell.
The tribal chairman said a lot of work has been underway behind the scenes while the federal government was mulling over the land into trust application.
“We’ve been working all this time. We’ve never stopped working, from design and development to permitting, that’s a lot of work to go through the permitting process and also getting to construction documents as well,” he said.
The 2011 law that legalized casino gambling in Massachusetts provided for a casino in eastern and western Massachusetts, a slots-only casino, and a casino set-aside for a federally-recognized Native American tribe.
MGM Resorts is planning a casino for Springfield, while Wynn Resorts is looking to build a gaming resort in Everett. The slots-only casino has already opened in Plainville.
The state’s gaming commission has also been considering the possibility of issuing another commercial casino license for southeastern Massachusetts in the event the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe was unable to get federal recognition.
When asked if the tribe would seek to have that process stopped, Cromwell would only say that he hoped the state gaming commission followed the law.
“We’ve got a tribal-state compact and that tribal-state compact spells out the relationship with the Commonwealth and that’s what we’re going to work by and we expect the Mass Gaming Commission to honor, respect and work with that tribal-state compact,” said Cromwell.
New York-based developers KG Urban Enterprises notified the gaming commission in July that they were withdrawing their plans for a $650 million Foxwoods-operated casino in New Bedford because of an inability to secure financing.
Mass Gaming & Entertainment proposes a $650 million resort on the Brockton Fairgrounds.
The company, a subsidiary of Chicago-based Rush Street Gaming, has already won Brockton voters’ approval and cleared a background check by state gambling investigators.
Massachusetts has so far issued resort casino licenses to MGM and Wynn and the slots parlor license to Penn National Gaming.
Mass Gaming & Entertainment must submit a detailed casino proposal by Sept. 30. The commission is expected to make a final decision on the license sometime in 2016.
It’s unclear how the Wampanoag’s land into trust approval will impact the state gaming commission’s decision on the Region C casino license.
According to figures provided by the Mashpee tribe, the Taunton casino would infuse $2.1 billion to the state for economic development, education, transportation, tourism and other priorities.
The project would create 1,000 construction and related support jobs with an estimated $230 million in construction payroll.
The tribe believes the project will eventually result in 2,650 permanent jobs within two years of opening.
By MATT PITTA, CapeCod.com News Director
Speak Your Mind