Mohegan's legal challenge to Wynn over Boston casino license resumes

Connecticut casino operator Mohegan Sun is still asking a judge to invalidate a license that the Massachusetts Gaming Commission awarded to Wynn Resorts rather than Mohegan five years ago. Mohegan claims the commission provided unfair advantages back then, that the fix was in for Wynn. 

Mohegan and the commission resume their legal battle in Suffolk Superior Court on Tuesday. This showdown was essentially put on hold while the commission conducted a new review of Wynn’s suitability to operate the casino. The focus of the hearing was about Mohegan’s lawyers at Foley Hoag request to Judge Janet Sanders to amend their previous lawsuit against the commission to include events that have transpired during the past two years, according to the Boston Globe.

These event would include a Wall Street Journal story in January 2018, outlining sexual misconduct allegations against company founder Steve Wynn. He was forced to step down as CEO, sell his stock, and exit the premises. The claims against the casino mogul prompted the Gaming Commission to conduct a second investigation, into whether the company and some of its remaining top executives were suitable to hold the casino license.

The commission’s investigation took more than a year, and in April, the commission cleared Wynn Resorts to run Encore Boston Harbor, imposing a $35 million fine. That was less than two months before opening day for the $2.6 billion complex in Everett.

Now, Mohegan wants to amend its lawsuit to reflect the commission’s latest review. Mohegan accuses the commission of being capricious and abusing its discretion by finding Wynn Resorts, chief executive Matt Maddox, and major shareholder Elaine Wynn suitable to be license holders.

Mohegan filed its proposed amended complaint on August 2. The Commission panel says Mohegan missed the statute of limitations for these kinds of claims, by not filing within 60 days of its April decision, and not honoring that time limit could possibly lead to an endless series of amended lawsuits. The commission’s lawyers from Anderson & Kreiger were expected to make that argument in court on Tuesday.

Judge Sanders may still grant Mohegan’s request, regardless, presumably with the hope that several years of legal wrangling would get closer to a final resolution. All along, Mohegan has been asking her to vacate the commission’s 2014 license award to Wynn. But Sanders, in a dismissal of a related case in July, indicated she would be reluctant to do so now. Such a remedy, she wrote, would have drastic consequences, essentially putting the commission back to square one, undoing years of work. Without a license, Encore Boston Harbor might very well have to close. The harm would be extensive, Sanders wrote, and possibly irreparable.