A Massachusetts judge has dismissed the city of Boston’s legal bid to derail the construction of Wynn Resorts new casino in neighboring Everett.
On Thursday, Suffolk County Superior Court Judge Janet Sanders ruled that the Massachusetts Gaming Commission (MGC) had acted properly in selecting Wynn as the recipient of the lone casino licensed designated for the Boston area.
Wynn was awarded the license in September 2014, beating back rival bids by Mohegan Sun and racetrack operator Suffolk Downs. The Mohegans had promised to pay Boston a lump sum of $30m plus $18m per year to reflect Boston’s status as ‘host community.’ Boston mayor Martin Walsh (pictured) believed Wynn should pay something similar to compensate for all the traffic chaos its casino is expected to bring.
But Wynn offered Boston just $6m upfront plus $2.6m per year, a deal Walsh categorically rejected. Walsh’s unwillingness to negotiate prompted the MGC to strip Boston of its ‘surrounding community’ status, thereby eliminating its legal right to any compensation, which prompted Walsh to release the legal kraken.
On Thursday, Judge Sanders dismissed Boston’s lawsuit, saying the “undisputed facts” showed no wrongdoing on behalf of the MGC in awarding the license to Wynn. Furthermore, Sanders said Boston’s lawyers had relied on “inflammatory descriptions,” “spurious” claims and “hyperbole” in lieu of facts to support their allegations that the MGC and its chairman Stephen Crosby were biased in favor of Wynn’s bid.
Sanders also dismissed a similar suit by the city of Revere, which had been set to host the Mohegan casino. Sanders said Revere had failed to demonstrate that it would suffer any harm beyond “the loss of potential economic benefits it may have received” had the Mohegan bid been selected.
MGC spokesperson Elaine Driscoll welcomed Sanders’ ruling, saying she hoped the city and Wynn could now “reconcile their differences through open dialogue and negotiation as opposed to legal action.”
On Thursday, disappointed Boston officials said they were reviewing Sanders’ ruling “and weighing options to appeal.” On Friday, Walsh said it would be “worth it” to continue the legal fight, which has already cost the city $1.25m in legal fees.
That said, Walsh claimed that the city was still talking with state officials regarding a mutually satisfactory resolution to the traffic issues, and Wynn staff were among those “at the table.” Walsh claimed both parties had dialed down the toxic rhetoric that has surrounded this dispute over the past year.
