Wynn’s Spokesman Said Boston Was Offered a Generation Mitigation and No New Offers Have Been Made
Boston Mayor Marty Walsh recently claimed on WGBH public radio that Steve Wynn offered to cut him a “nine-figure” check on July 30, if Walsh dropped his plans to regain Boston’s “host community” status. The City of Boston filed a lawsuit earlier this year to regain that status, after the Massachusetts Gaming Commission stripped the city of its status in August 2014.
Losing the host community distinction meant Boston lost its right to compensation when the MGC awarded a casino license to Everett (instead of Boston). It also lost the ability to have a vote on whether the city’s citizens approved a casino in the metropolitan area.
Sweet Talking Steve Wynn
Marty Walsh joked with interviewers on the radio station that he was “sweet talking” Steve Wynn to increase the price he would pay to have the lawsuit dropped, but he said in all seriousness that the issue was not about the money.
Walsh told the WGBH listeners that the negotiations with Wynn were “really not about the money. It’s about allowing the people of [Boston suburb] Charleston a vote.”
Michael Weaver Denies New Offer
An hour after the radio interview finished, Michael Weaver, a spokesman for Wynn Resorts, refuted the claims of Marty Walsh. He said Wynn Resorts had “made no offer of additional money to the city of Boston“.
Weaver attempted to clarify those remarks by saying Steve Wynn had offered to lobby the Massachusetts state government to have more gaming tax proceeds diverted to Boston if the city dropped it lawsuit for host community status. Michael Weaver was adamant that Wynn Resorts had made “no new offers” to Boston.
Claims Wynn Resorts Offered “Generous Mitigation”
The spokesman for Wynn Resorts said that his company had already paid on “a very thoughtful and generous mitigation plan by the [MGC] after the city repeatedly refused to participate in a process in which it could have negotiated directly“.
Michael Weaver was referring to a previous deal in which Wynn paid $25 million in community mitigation costs, as well as an additional $55 million in mitigation costs for improvements to Sullivan Square’s traffic circle in the Charleston region. When the new casino is built, many believe its existence will make worse an already bad traffic situation going north and south up the North Shore.
Steve Wynn later scoffed at the allegations by Marty Walsh.
Marty Walsh vs Steve Wynn
According to the Boston Globe, Boston’s mayor developed a dislike for Steve Wynn during the casino licensing process. The lawsuit makes several serious charges against Wynn Resorts and (especially) the Massachusetts Gaming Commission. The suit claims conflict of interest on the part of the chairman of the Massachusetts Gaming Commission (Stephen Crosby), because the primary owner of the Everett land sold to Wynn Resorts was owned by a close personal friend of Crosby. The lawsuit also charges that the land deal was shady, because another of the owners was a convicted member of organized crime and an ex-convict.
Finally, the lawsuit charges the city was damaged by the decision of the MGC, which it believes gave preferential treatment to the Wynn Resorts plan. Due to that, the city should be awarded special compensation, in particular due to the traffic congestion the casino is going to cause for hundreds of thousands of Boston-area commuters.
Was the Everett Decision Preferential?
The Massachusetts Gaming Commission does not look like it is going to escape the consequences of the Everett casino decision. Chairman Stephen Crosby faces a state ethics probe, while two members of the commission resigned last week, citing the desire to spend more time with family. The Wynn Resorts project faced conflict of interest charges almost from the beginning, when Caesars Entertainment filed a lawsuit against Crosby, protesting the process.
Despite the swirling charges, it would be hard to argue that the MGC made the wrong decision in choosing the Everett casino plan. By any measure, it would seem to be the project which created the most jobs and pumped the most investment cash into the Boston area. The Wynn Resorts plan was worth an estimated $1.6 billion at the time (since risen to $1.75 billion), while the combined Suffolk Downs and Mohegan Sun plan for Revere would have been worth $900 million at most.
That Suffolk Downs plan called for renovations instead of a massive building project, so the Wynn Resorts casino in Everett is likely to be much bigger and create more jobs, while it certainly would create more construction jobs. Under the circumstances, it would be hard for a neutral judge to find against the Everett decision. It is another matter whether Boston should receive mitigation or Stephen Crosby lose his job for (allegedly) meddling in a decision he had recused himself from.
