Mike Mathis, president and CEO of MGM Springfield, speaks Tuesday to supporters gathered at the Basketball Hall o. f Fame in Springfield following the election night defeat of a ballot question that sought to overturn the legalization of casino gambling in the state. The measure would have repealed a 2011 law authorizing development of a slots parlor and up to three resort casinos. One of the casinos is planned in Springfield. (AP Photo/The Republican, Mark M. Murray)
PHILIP MARCELO, Associated Press
BOSTON (AP) — State gambling regulators are completing casino licenses for MGM Resorts International and Wynn Resorts after voters emphatically rejected repealing the state’s casino law.
The gambling giants were granted the state licenses pending the outcome of the November election. Residents voted by a 20 percentage point margin on Tuesday to keep the 2011 law that authorized up to three regional casinos and one slots parlor in Massachusetts.
Today’s votes by the Massachusetts Gaming Commission are expected to set in motion state and local payments the casinos will have to make, including an $85 million licensing fee and compensation payments to their host and surrounding communities.
A worker walks toward the planned parking garage of the Plainridge Park Casino, under construction adjacent to the Plainridge Racecourse harness racing track in Plainville, Mass. Voters decided in Tuesday’s election not to repeal a 2011 law that opened the door for casinos in the state. (AP File Photo/Steven Senne)
The five-member panel was then expected to look ahead to 2015, when it hopes to award the state’s final resort casino license, which is reserved for the Fall River-New Bedford region.
The commission also was expected to vote today on applications for state horse racing licenses. An association of horse trainers and owners is seeking to preserve thoroughbred racing at Suffolk Downs, the region’s last such track, after its owners decided against continuing races in 2015. A separate proposal would have thoroughbred races take place at the Brockton Fairgrounds.
MGM won the state’s western region casino license for a proposed $800 million resort in Springfield over the summer. Wynn won the Boston-area license in the fall for its $1.6 billion plan for the Everett waterfront.
Penn National Gaming already has paid a $15 million slots parlor licensing fee for its $225 million expansion of the Plainridge harness racing track in Plainville. The company is on track to open the first gambling hall under the 2011 law.
MGM and Wynn, meanwhile, are ramping up efforts to break ground on their resort casino developments. Each hopes to open sometime in 2017. Two federally-recognized American Indian tribes — the Mashpee Wampanoags of Cape Cod and the Aquinnah Wampanoags of Martha’s Vineyard — are continuing to pursue casino projects in the southern region.
