The Massachusetts Gaming Commission voted Thursday to deny a request to license a casino in Brockton.
The project would have been the state’s third licensed resort casino. The Gaming Commission has issued licenses for casinos in Everett and Springfield. Also, a slots parlor with electronic table games opened in Plainville last June.
The commission voted 4-1 against a plan by Massachusetts Gaming and Entertainment (MG&E) to build a resort casino on the property of former Brockton Fairgrounds.
Brockton’s mayor had pressed for this project, saying it would bring jobs and an economic boost to his struggling community.
But the city was by no means united. A town referendum on the proposal just narrowly passed, despite the fact that there was a lot of money spent on the “yes” vote. Residents raised concerns that the casino would be built in a residential neighborhood, right across the street from Brockton’s high school.
But perhaps the biggest cloud hanging over the Brockton proposal was the plan by the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe to build a $900 million resort casino just 17 miles away in Taunton. The commission had expected if the federal government ever did agree to take land into trust for the tribe, that it would take years. But when that happened with unexpected speed, it changed the region’s gaming landscape. The tribe broke ground on its First Light Resort & Casino earlier this month.
Gaming Commissioner Gayle Cameron said Thursday that competition from the tribe was significant to their decision.
“When we opened this it was a very uncertain region C environment,” she said, referring to the southeastern part of the state.
In its compact with Massachusetts, the Mashpee Wampanoags agreed to pay the state 17 percent of its gaming revenues if there’s no commercial competitor in Southeastern part of the state. If a commercial casino was approved, the tribe would pay nothing. Commercial casinos like the one proposed in Brockton are required to pay 25 percent of gross gambling revenues to the state, in addition to an $85 million licensing fee every 15 years. That different treatment would have given the tribal casino a huge advantage.
A consultant for the Gaming Commission testified this week that with two casinos in the region, the state could net up to $41 million less a year than if there’s just one.
In addition to concerns over tribal competition, several commission members said they were unimpressed by the the presentation by the Brockton developers.
Commission Chair Stephen Crosby said the plans were seriously lacking in what he called the “wow factor.”
“It’s not, in my view a destination resort casino in the way the legislature and we really anticipated,” he told his fellow commissioners.
Crosby said MB&E didn’t do much to distinguish themselves in a crowded field of casinos, and he didn’t think they presented strongly enough on how they could help the community. Crosby also raised questions about the economic impact the casino would have.
“There is the possibility that this facility might be what we don’t want in facilities,” he said, “which is a suck from the surrounding community."
The Mashpee Wampanoag tribe celebrated the news Thursday.
"Historically, our people have been the recipients of a string of broken promises,” tribal chair Cedric Cromwell said in a statement. “Today is not one of those days… Today, the Gaming Commission upheld the Commonwealth’s end of the bargain, paving the way for a fruitful economic partnership that will uplift my people and create economic opportunities for the city of Taunton, Southeastern Massachusetts and indeed the entire state."
The tribe says they’re planning to open their Taunton casino by next summer.
Interestingly, a few members of the Gaming Commission suggested Thursday that their rejection didn’t mean for sure that there could be no commercial casino project in Brockton. They said it just wouldn’t be this one.
