The Supreme Judicial Court ruled today that blackjack players who won at the cheap tables at the Encore and MGM Springfield casinos, then sued to get the higher winnings they would have gotten at higher-stakes tables, should have quit while they were ahead. Read more.
The Everett Independent reports that Wynn announced tonight it's not selling its nearly finished Everett casino and will open it itself, averting a crisis that would have raised questions about the future of MGM's already open Springfield casino, as well as about the health of Everett Mayor Carlo DeMaria, who had vowed MGM would take over his city's casino only over his dead body.
It might be a bit of a moot point now, given that Wynn Resorts has stripped Steve Wynn of his management responsibilities, but the Massachusetts Gaming Commission today formally stripped him of his right to be involved in management of the Everett casino that will now be called Encore Boston Harbor. Read more.
Wynn Resorts announced today it's changing the name of its Everett casino to Encore Boston Harbor in a bid to remove the taint of sharing a name with Steve Wynn, who until recently ran the company bearing his name.
The announcement came at a Massachusetts Gaming Commission hearing on whether to formally strip alleged serial sexual attacker Steve Wynn of his right to have anything to do with gambling in Massachusetts. Commissioners will consider the issue privately before announcing a decision.
With the Wynn casino in Everett now under construction, the Supreme Judicial Court ruled today that a judge should consider whether the state Gaming Commission violated a law requiring public deliberations during its considerations on whether to award a license to Wynn or a competing proposal at Suffolk Downs. Read more.
Wynn said it's put is $1.7-billion Everett casino on hold until after state officials rule on environmental objections filed by the city of Somerville.
This includes canceling plans for hiring 4,000 construction workers and a formal April groundbreaking, Wynn says.
The company took no similar actions while fighting the city of Boston's federal lawsuit, which, granted grew increasingly unlikely to succeed the more a judge read Boston's legal pleadings.
On hearing the state gaming commission had approved the $68-million deal between Wynn and Boston, Everett Mayor Carlo DeMaria issued a statement commending both sides. He concluded:
This is literally a win/Wynn outcome for everyone.
Wynn Resorts says it's hired Suffolk Construction as general contractor for its $1.7-billion, 3-million-square foot casino in Everett.
The Globe reports a Suffolk Superior Court judge rejected the city's "spurious" claims and that the city, which has already spent some $1 million on the suit, is looking at a possible appeal.
CommonWealth Magazine reports Wynn won't give us the nightclub we desperately deserve because the state's current 2 a.m. closing time just doesn't cut it.
Late Friday, state Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Matthew Beaton signed off on the Wynn casino planned for Everett, removing a major hurdle for the project.
Everett Mayor Carlo DeMaria was all woot woot: Read more.
The convoluted legal maneuverings around the proposed Wynn casino in Everett got more interesting this week when the US Attorney's office denied the city's claims that two former state troopers, working on the side as private eyes for Wynn, got a look at what were supposed to be private documents related to Wynn's purchase of the land from three men now under federal indictment for the way they allegedly tried to hide that one of them was a convicted felon. Read more.
Boston Mayor Marty Walsh today announced the city has expanded its lawsuit against the state Gaming Commission to seek nullification of all its decisions, not just the one allowing a casino in Everett on the Charlestown line, and a court ruling that the present commissioners be disqualified from any future votes on a Boston-area casino. Read more.
Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly reports:
A memorandum of law obtained by Lawyers Weekly accuses Wynn Resorts of violating state law by failing to disclose an August letter it received from the IRS’ criminal division before the Massachusetts Gaming Commission awarded Wynn the coveted Boston-area casino license in September.
The Globe looks at the road to redemption for losers Charlie Baker and Martha Coakley.
The Globe reports both state and federal grand juries have indicted the three owners of the Everett land on which Steve Wynn recently won approval for his $1.6-billion casino - the two owners listed on records and the third hidden owner with a mob past.
The federal grand jury indicted the three for fraud, the state one for lying to the state gaming commission, the Globe says.
The state Gaming Commission voted today to pick the Wynn proposal for Everett over the Mohegan Sun proposal for Suffolk Downs, with three of the four commissioners saying Wynn's proposal would be better for the area, workers and the environment.
Commission members said Wynn proved it had greater capital to ensure its project could get built and then run through challenging economic times - and would spend more money locally than Mohegan Sun. Also, if Wynn doesn't build, the contaminated, empty site on which it would be built would stay a contaminated, empty site.
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