In essence, the question the commission has to answer is whether the language of the Jreferendum that cleared the way for the casino to be located in Everett authorized casino gaming at just the location specified on the ballot or whether voters approved of Wynn's casino license generally. Get Boston local news, weather forecasts, lifestyle and entertainment stories to your inbox.

'But because this new proposal would need to be part of the gaming establishment to operate, this question now does need to be answered.' Because the commission determined that the proposal was not part of the gaming establishment, that question never needed to be answered,' Joe Delaney, the commission's chief of community affairs, said Wednesday. 'When that earlier proposal came in front of the commission, one of the things that was one of the issues that we raised at that time was whether or not the city-wide referendum that was conducted in 2013 would be sufficient to cover this additional property. And because the state's 11-year-old casino-style gambling law 'is silent when it comes to expansion of gaming operations beyond the footprint of the existing gaming establishment,' commission general counsel Todd Grossman said Wednesday, the Gaming Commission is in uncharted territory as it considers Wynn's expansion.

The Gaming Commission ruled in March that a previous draft of Wynn's proposal - one that did not include any gaming areas - would not be part of the official gaming establishment and therefore would not fall under commission jurisdiction or oversight, an outcome the casino had lobbied for.īut Wynn has since changed its plans and now wants its 'east of Broadway' expansion to include both casino gaming (poker) and sports betting, which would require the facility to be regulated by the Gaming Commission.

As Encore Boston Harbor looks to expand its gambling offerings into a new development across the street from its existing casino, state regulators are revisiting the 2013 referendum through which Everett, Massachusetts voters backed the casino to try to suss out exactly what it was that city residents approved.Įncore parent company Wynn Resorts wants to construct a new building across Broadway from its resort casino to host a dedicated poker room, second sports betting parlor, a new nightclub, a theater, parking garage and more.

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