Massachusetts Gaming Commission to hear final debates before awarding casino license

Mohegan has proposed a casino next to Suffolk Downs in Revere, while Wynn Resorts would build one on the Mystic River in Everett.

In a bid to reassure the commission about its project's financing, Mohegan Sun and its partner, Brigade Capital Management, proposed increasing the available funding for the Revere casino by US$ 150 million - 50 percent more than the commission had recommended. A third of the additional amount would be in the form of investments by parties the commission has already vetted.

Mohegan Sun also agreed to market its Revere casino throughout all of Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Maine, though not in Connecticut, home of Mohegan Sun's flagship casino in Uncasville.

In a letter signed by its chairman, Steve Wynn, Las Vegas-based Wynn Resorts responded to the commission's recommendation that it redesign the Everett project's exterior. "There is no doubt that a glass curtain wall allowing for floor to ceiling wall to wall glass that looks upon the Mystic River and the Boston skyline is the most attractive solution for guest experience," Wynn wrote. Wynn also asserted that a reflective material used on Wynn Resorts' Las Vegas properties would be suitable for the Everett project.

Regarding a critique by an architects' association that "thought we should conform more to the neighborhood," Wynn wrote: "This suggestion adds a note of humor to the moment. Perhaps we should have adopted the shape of a fuel storage tank or a big box retailer, notably the surrounding structures of our neighborhood."

Wynn said his firm would increase funding to mitigate traffic issues, particularly those at Sullivan Square in Boston's Charlestown neighborhood, a response the commission wanted to explore further.

By consensus, the four commissioners involved in the deliberations agreed that the applicants' financial wherewithal, ability to create jobs and tax revenue, and commitment to mitigating the adverse impacts of their projects should be accorded more weight than the design of their projects.