State gambling commissioners voted Tuesday to award a regional gaming license to Wynn Resorts, giving Everett the state’s lone Greater Boston casino license – and spelling the likely end for the region’s most historic racetrack, Suffolk Downs.
The money-leaking racetrack in Revere had been the at the center of continuous efforts to bring a casino to the Boston area; in fact, saving Suffolk Downs, “was one of the prime motivations behind the 2011 casino bill” inked by Governor Deval Patrick, the Boston Globe reports.
If a casino was built at Suffolk Downs, jobs would be preserved, while the local economies of East Boston and Revere received a boost – or so the pitch goes. But those prospects were officially axed when gaming commissioners voted in favor of Everett’s Wynn Resort, instead of Revere’s Mohegan Sun – which would have been built on the Suffolk Downs grounds.
Following Tuesday’s vote, Suffolk Downs officials announced this decision would likely cause them to”wind down racing operations” and that they were planning to meet with employees to discuss what this all means.
“It’s a darn shame,” Jim Hannon, the 86-year-old former Suffolk Downs announcer told the Globe. “People are going to be out on the street, unfortunately, and it probably will happen sooner than you think.”
The gambling commission voted 3-to-1 in favor of Wynn Resorts, which is looking to build a $1.6 billion adult playground on the banks of Mystic River. Construction could start right after the November elections, if a referendum question to repeal Massachusetts casinos is struck down.
And Suffolk Downs, sitting on the East Boston-Revere city line, will be forced to shut down. Such an outcome “would have seemed inconceivable when the state casino law passed in 2011 … Wynn offered a stronger development financing plan, a much larger construction investment, and a bigger projected workforce and payroll,” the Globe reports.
The Wynn Resorts casino plans for Everett call for 150 table games, 3,000 slot machines, 500 hotel rooms, 3,000 square feet of convention space, 94,000 square feet of retail, eight restaurants and a spa.
Wynn will dish out $45 million for short term road improvements in Everett, as well as an additional sum to improve traffic around Charlestown’s Sullivan Square. Another $20 to $30 million will be spent to clean the future casino site and install a harbor walk and multi-modal community path.
More than 4,300 permanent jobs are expected to be created.
A Greater Boston casino is expected to generate as much as $800 million per year in gambling revenue.
Image via Flickr/ADTeasdale
