Wynn blocked in Boston?

While we wait for Boston Mayor Martin “McCheese” Walsh to pile on, the City of Revere and Local 103 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers have done the inevitable and filed suit against the Massachusetts Gaming Commission, demanding that the Suffolk Superior Court strip Wynn Resorts of its casino license and award it to Mohegan Sun. Calling the MGC’s conduct arbitrary and capricious, Revere attorneys say it “gave Wynn unequal (and better) treatment than other gaming applicants.’’ This includes violation of open-meeting laws and exemption of Wynn from various statutory requirements.

Mohegan Sun isn’t a party to the suit but COO Chip Tuttle fumed, “The complaint filed today by the City of Revere and IBEW 103 is indicative of a pattern by the Gaming Commission of lowering its standards, subverting the intent of the gaming law and contorting the process for the benefit of the Wynn Everett applicant. The people who work here are facing significant hardship as a result of this.”

Commission spokesman Hank Shafran expressed sympathy, adding, “We have seen that intense disappointment express itself in a number of ways, including legal action and even false accusations of bias against the commission.” This only the latest broadside leveled against the MGC. As Mark Arsenault writes in the Boston Globe, “Suffolk Downs, which stood to gain enormous lease payments from a casino on its land, sent the commission a blistering letter this month questioning whether Wynn’s plan is viable and urging regulators to reconsider their choice.” The track also feels Wynn should have been penalized in the deliberations for Suffolk Downs’ threat to put itself out of business if it didn’t get the casino.

(Can you picture it? Acting MGC Chairman James McHugh telling Steve Wynn, “Sorry pal, we’re taking back that license we just gave you, because Suffolk Downs told us to.”)

Revere may be able to nail Wynn on a technicality or two, such as the failure to negotiate a surrounding-agreement with Boston … although Mayor McCheese forced that issue by refusing to go to arbitration, per state law. Were the courts to accept Revere’s contention that arbitration is unconstitutional, it could unravel compensation agreements from one end of the state to the other. And, as Arsenault points out, the MGC has done Revere a favor or two, as when it “unanimously waived one of its rules to permit a new referendum in Revere after a scheduled deadline, keeping the Revere project alive.”

Leaving aside the possible injunction of construction at Wynn Boston (or whatever it will be called), there’s the question of the lawsuit’s viability. “Typically, you have to find very substantial abuse of discretion, and that’s a high hurdle to overcome. It’s a chance well worth taking. A lot of time and money has been invested in this. But from purely a legal standpoint, it’s a long shot,” said Cezar M. Froelich, an attorney who represented Springfield in its casino-selection process. Added Boston College economist Richard McGowan, “The way the law is written, the commission has the final say. That does not mean the court can’t say ‘You are being unfair, and you can’t do that.’”

With ups and downs like these, is it any wonder that Steve Wynn has been ambivalent about the Massachusetts casino market and selection process?

* Trump Entertainment Resorts CEO Robert Griffin has been running a virtual yard sale to keep Trump Taj Mahal in business. He’s been selling off used mattresses (yuck!) and TV sets from Trump Plaza. There’s a word for that and it’s “pathetic.” Henceforth, Griffin will be “Bedspring Bob.”