Mass.'s highest court reviewing Mohegan Sun suit over Boston-area casino license
Mohegan Sun’s legal challenge of the Massachusetts Gaming Commission’s 2014 decision to award the Boston-area casino license to Wynn Resorts was still kicking at year’s end.
The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court heard arguments in the case in early December.
One of the last potential obstacles in Wynn Boston Harbor’s path, the litigation has had little impact on the $2.1 billion project, now scheduled to open in Everett in 2019.
Wynn Resorts won the license in a head-to-head competition with Mohegan Sun, which proposed a $1.3 billion resort casino in Revere adjacent to the Suffolk Downs racetrack. The commission’s vote was 3-1.
The Everett project had a $1.6 billion price tag when the license was awarded.
The City of Revere, a labor union representing Suffolk Downs workers and several private citizens filed suit over the commission’s decision in October 2014, and Mohegan Sun joined the action several months later as an intervener. The plaintiffs alleged that the proceedings that led to the commission’s decision “were riddled with statutory, arbitrary and capricious actions, and improper private deliberation,” according to court filings.
Prior to the awarding of the license, questions were raised about commission Chairman Stephen Crosby’s relationship with a co-owner of the Everett casino site. Crosby, citing concerns about possible conflicts, recused himself from the five-member commission's consideration of the Boston-area license.
Mohegan Sun officials said they had reason to believe Crosby continued to be involved in private commission meetings on the matter.
Attorneys for the commission have argued that, under the 2011 Massachusetts law that allowed casinos in the state, the commission's decisions are not subject to judicial review.
In December 2015, a Superior Court judge dismissed the claims brought by Revere and others but ruled that Mohegan Sun could pursue a claim against the commission.
The commission then sought a “direct appellate review” of the judge’s decision. Subsequently, the plaintiffs also sought such a review. The Supreme Judicial Court agreed in the spring to take the case.
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