Casino Bidders Seek More Time for Applications (Again)
If you think the wait for a Boston-area casino has been unbearably long, you’ll want to avert your eyes from the southeastern part of the state.
Monday was deadline day—again—in the competition for the last remaining casino license in Massachusetts. And it passed—again—with candidates for the license requesting extensions to get their paperwork in.
KG Urban Enterprises, which has wanted to build a casino in New Bedford for years, is requesting more time from the gaming board to finalize its application. Represented by former NBA Commissioner David Stern, the developer remains locked in negotiations with New Bedford officials over the casino. The city co-signed the request for the extension.
That could be seen as progress; two weeks ago, Stern said it would take a “miracle’’ for KG Urban and the city to reach a deal.
While a host city agreement is not a prerequisite for completing the application, in a letter to the gaming board requesting the extension, KG Urban said negotiations with the city “may alter the project’s development budget,’’ and could thus have an effect on the details of its application.
Another applicant that wants to build in Somerset, developer Crossroads Massachusetts, also requested an extension Monday, the gaming board said. According to the gaming commission, the request from Crossroads came verbally. Calls to the workplace of Robert Potamkin, who is listed by the state as a manager of Crossroads, and to Somerset Selectman Donald Setters, who has been speaking for the city about the project, were not immediately returned Monday evening.
Monday’s deadline was actually an extension of a prior January 30 deadline, which was fully met by only one of three potential competitors for the license. That applicant, Mass Gaming & Entertainment, would build a casino at the Brockton Fairgrounds. Mass Gaming subsequently reached a host city agreement with Brockton, and scheduled for May a local referendum on the plan, as required by the state’s casino law.
Missed and extended deadlines have become the norm for the southeastern license. The board is expected to make a decision this fall.
The region was not originally open to bidding, because the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe was given dibs. But that plan, which would put a tribal casino in Taunton, has been held up in a federal land trust process. While the tribe could still wind up building a casino there, the gaming board eventually voted to open the license up to all applicants.
Applicants did not flock to the license; their enthusiasm may have been tempered by a state ballot question last year that threatened to ban casinos. The deadline for southeastern applicants was pushed back multiple times last year, most recently from December 1 to January 30. The January deadline stuck and nobody else was allowed to apply after it passed. But KG Urban and Somerset submitting incomplete applications, which pushed things back another six weeks to Monday.
The gaming board will discuss the latest extension requests Thursday.
Applying for a casino license is a two-part process. The application deadline for the second stage of the southeast license competition is currently scheduled for late May. But, if the latest extensions are granted, the deadline will probably have to be pushed back.
Again.
To comment, please create a screen name in your profile
To comment, please verify your email address
Conversation
This discussion has ended. Please join elsewhere on Boston.com