The Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe will have some competition as they attempt to open a casino, as a competitor is pushing the Massachusetts Gaming Commission to reopen the state’s southeastern region to commercial casino proposals and consider its proposal in Brockton, according to the Mashpee Enterprise.
“The Commission has done nothing with regard to Region C licensing for over two years,” a petition submitted by Mass Gaming and Entertainment said. “As a result, the Southeast region has lost the opportunity for thousands of jobs, and the Commonwealth has lost tens of millions of dollars in tax revenues.”
Mass Gaming and Entertainment filed the petition with the commission back in June.
“The latest move … smacks of desperation,” Mashpee Wampanoag Tribal Council chairman Cedric Cromwell said. “This is clearly a Hail Mary response to the bipartisan legislation moving in Congress that will secure our rights to the land we have been tied to for 12,000 years.
“It’s amazing the lengths Mr. Bluhm will go to undermine tribal rights,” Mr. Cromwell continued. “First, he bankrolls a protracted legal action against the Mashpee tribe in an attempt to deny us our rights to a reservation. Then he makes a last cynical attempt to force the state into approving a development it so clearly doesn’t want built.
“Let’s not forget the Massachusetts Gaming Commission roundly rejected Bluhm’s casino application in 2016 because it was incompatible with the vision everyone has for southeastern Massachusetts,” Mr. Cromwell said.
The commission has yet to award a license for the third and final area.
“There is no land-in-trust,” the executive summary from the Brockton hopefuls states. “There is no financing. There is no tribal casino and there will [be] no tribal casino anytime soon.”
The Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe contends that “there is no land-in-trust.”
“MG&E and its principal owner, Rush Street Gaming LLC, remain eager to help the Southeast region begin to catch up,” the petition states. “Their $700 million project is ready to start.”
Cromwell responded by stating that the Mashpee tribe is a resilient tribe.
“We draw our strength from the broad support we enjoy from the Gaming Commission, the state’s Congressional delegation and the town of Taunton,” Cromwell said. “It’s time to send Mr. Bluhm packing back to Chicago and let the rest of us get on with doing the right thing for our state, our communities and our tribe.”