Walsh: City Expanding Lawsuit Against Mass. Gaming Commission
CHARLESTOWN (CBS/AP) – Mayor Marty Walsh wants a state judge to bar gambling regulators from taking part in future actions regarding the Boston-area casino license.
Walsh announced Thursday that the city has amended its January civil complaint seeking to revoke Steve Wynn's license to build a $1.7 billion development in neighboring Everett. The lawsuit alleges regulators repeatedly violated state law and their own rules in granting the license.
The city says Wynn has not reached a financial compensation deal with the city and has not applied for necessary city permits for the casino's main entry, which goes through Boston.
A Wynn spokesman dismissed the lawsuit's allegations as "retread stories" without merit.
Among the new points made in the suit is casino goers cannot get to the proposed Everett casino without going through Boston, says the mayor, adding that the road is not zoned for it.
"The city will seek nullification of all the commission's decisions including awarding the license to Wynn (Resorts)," said Walsh while speaking at a Sullivan Square traffic circle in front of Everett on Thursday.
"We are seeking the disqualification of all the commissioners from making decisions in region A."
Walsh says the process was flawed and that Boston should have been named as a host community.
The mayor said the whole casino siting process for this area should be restarted, and the court should order a new gaming commission to oversee that process.
In a press statement released Thursday afternoon, the gaming commission responded to the city's lawsuit.
"Launching a personal assault on the five members of the Massachusetts Gaming Commission is a deeply disappointing and wholly unproductive approach to resolving important public policy issues. The Commission made each license award based solely on a thoughtful, objective and exhaustive evaluation of each gaming proposal," reads the statement. "The Commissioners remain committed to the participatory, transparent and fair process that has been the touchstone of the Commission's work.
"And they remain hopeful that the parties can collaboratively resolve their differences and begin to realize the extraordinary benefits of jobs, economic development and revenue that the law was designed to produce."
In October 2014, the city of Revere and a union representing Suffolk Downs workers filed a lawsuit against the gaming commission for awarding a casino license to Wynn in Everett.
The city and union said in a statement that they were suing over "a flawed process that includes multiple violations of Massachusetts law and that potentially benefits criminal interest."
Wynn was awarded the license in September 2014 over Mohegan Sun's plan for a resort casino on the Suffolk Downs' property.
Somerville and Mohegan Sun, which lost to Wynn, have also filed lawsuits challenging the license.
WBZ NewsRadio 1030's Carl Stevens reports:
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