The long and road that is winding leads to an Everett casino for Steve Wynn is getting nearer to the finish line: the Massachusetts Gaming Commission’s madly demanding investigative bureau has finally provided the go-ahead from the suitability standpoint for the casino mogul to open his first-ever Bay State property.

Cleared for Takeoff

The recommendation was made week that is early last a commission meeting, and followed a four-member sign-off on a revised deal for the planned casino a few days earlier.

Needless to express, Steve Wynn has to be breathing a sigh of relief. With his usual colorful and wording that is cut-to-the-chase he summed up his feelings on having made it this far and being this close to the end of the regulatory hurdles altogether.

‘ This is a big investment for us here in Boston,’ Wynn noted. ‘This is not a box of slots. This is a ‘wham-bam-thank-you-ma’am’ fancy hotel.’

Of course, there is no lunch that is free this commission; friends that has turned out to be finicky to a degree which has driven a lot of the proposed casinos’ professionals to distraction. To that end, the Commission’s Bureau of Investigation and Enforcement remains demanding that some conditions be met, such as for example showing the outfit that Wynn’s interactions in his Macau gambling enterprises fall suitably within what the BIE considers ‘responsible business practices.’

Ensuing Doings

Wynn has hardly been the subject that is only of scrutiny by the Commission; nor has it all been going in one single direction. Caesars Entertainment who was essentially rejected as a business that is appropriate for Suffolk Downs’ East-Boston-now-Revere casino project recently filed a lawsuit against the Commission’s Chairman, Stephen Crosby, claiming that Crosby had failed to adequately reveal a possible conflict of great interest relating to Wynn. Crosby had a prior business relationship with a part owner of the land on which Everett is usually to be built a former Mansanto chemical plant which could at the least give the appearance of some favoritism being demonstrated to Wynn’s casino project here.

Caesars claimed a shortage of ‘objectivity and fairness’on Crosby’s part into the matter, even going to date as to mean that Crosby intentionally wanted to derail Suffolk Downs’ casino application. Caesars via that Suffolk Downs partnership, which is now dissolved was at the running for the same eastern Massachusetts casino license as competitor Wynn. Suffolk Downs has since regrouped and is now aiming for a Revere casino with new partner Mohegan Sun.

But Crosby has not taken any of these allegations lying down, and records he does not intend to recuse himself from voting on the Wynn casino project. In fact, he states the process up to now has certainly been ‘incredibly transparent.’

And for his part, Wynn is backing up Crosby, saying the commissioner’s reputation and actions to date have been ‘unblemished.’

‘I think fair and people that are reasonable see that and realize that i have fulfilled my obligations of disclosure,’ Crosby added.

Wynn additionally fired right back at Caesars, with an ‘I’m-nicer-than-you-are’-style retort. The casino magnate noted that he raised no protests towards the commission vis-à-vis its allowing Suffolk Downs to now move forward with their Revere-only casino plans after being rejected by East Boston voters in November.

Unsavory Shadows Hangover Everett Land Deal

Yes, he’s now received regulatory approval from the Massachusetts Commission, but is everything really on the up-and-up with Wynn’s Everett land deal? Not according to convicted felon Charles Lightbody, who claims he is making money on Wynn’s land purchase, some way, even though the Commission views things differently.

Lightbody even bragged up to a mob that is still-incarcerated buddy about it on tape.

‘It’s gonna be described as a home that is real if we could get the permits through,’ Lightbody told Daren Bufalino, that is in state prison, doing time for attempted extortion and conspiracy. ‘ You’ll own half the [expletive] city,’ Lightbody told Bufalino in Aug. 2012, implying that the convict may benefit too.

Lightbody had been referring to Wynn’s handle the Everett land owners to fork over $75 million for his Massachusetts casino project, on spec.

In response to that, the Commission unanimously approved a revised submitted land deal plan from Wynn, which lowered the parcel that is 29-acre cost down to $35 million, essentially eliminating the chance for Lightbody benefitting from the land deal. A group who paid just $8 million four years ago for the same parcel although Lightbody’s name had never shown up on any documents, he was reportedly part of that original sellers group.

Wynn had to swear to the Commission that solely the principal owners would make any profits from the deal under the revised contract.

Lightbody’s taped prison conversations with Bufalino were subpoenaed by the commission investigators. If he gets squeezed out or not in them, the ex-felon makes clear he intends to profit from the land deal, no matter. Lightbody also indicated within the conversation he knew how to hide his part-ownership from any scrutiny that is regulatory. Moreover, two associated with the Everett property owners say Lightbody purchased an option on a nearby strip club, an alternative which he will exercise should the casino come to fruition.

‘The other thing around the corner that goes with a casino I own,’ Lightbody is heard telling Bufalino during one of their exchanges.’It’s the most sensible thing you can have by having a casino. There’s only two things, women and booze, right across the part. [Expletive] locked it. Locked up tight as a drum.’

During the course of their investigations, the commission investigators determined that Bufalino had, in fact, received prison canteen money from Lightbody, and that the two men had been buddies.

With Board Chairman Stephen Crosby recused due to their conflict of interest, the remainder of the Massachusetts Commission gave a thumbs-up to the revised land agreement, despite detectives discovering that the selling principals had perhaps not disclosed Lightbody’s original 12.5 percent ownership share, and had also falsified documents so before he actually had that it appeared the ex-con had exited from the deal.