Wynn faces sore loser in Boston

Steve Wynn was finally able to close a $35 million deal on the site of his Everett, Massachusetts, casino project. That’s good, because Wynn has to deal with new perfidy from Boston Mayor Martin “McCheese” Walsh. The latter’s long silence after Wynn was awarded a Hub casino was too good to be true. No, Walsh was busy cooking up trouble for Wynn.

His argument — which flies in the face of lengthy Massachusetts Gaming Commission precedent — is that the Charlestown neighborhood, which borders on Everett, is really a host community because Wynn-bound traffic will pass through it. Ergo, Charlestonians should get to vote on the casino. Boston College gaming pundit Richard McGowan opines that Walsh is trying to shake down Wynn Resorts for a sweeter “surrounding community” payday. However, Mayor McCheese is smart enough to know that Charlestown is likely to vote against Wynn, so this may be his attempt to get the casino license re-awarded to his homies at Suffolk Downs by default.

Alluding to the controversial land sale, Walsh slyly insinuated, “It could all be aboveboard, but who knows.” (Revere and Somerville are suing on similar grounds.) “Under the gaming statute, all people with a financial interest in the gaming establishment have to be deemed suitable. They are not,” huffed Walsh mouthpiece Thomas C. Frongillo. One other argument that might tell in Boston’s favor is that Wynn’s efforts to buy land in Everett to create access through that city continue to hang fire. While opinions on Walsh’s endgame may be divided, it’s clear that he won’t be satisfied until he’s run Steve Wynn out of the Bay State.

* Over on Beacon Hill, lawmakers are rethinking their resistance to ATMs in Massachusetts casinos. Under the cover of Christmas Eve, state Senate Ways & Means Committee Chairman Stephen Brewer inserted an amendment into the manger, one that would transfer authority over ATM siting to the MGC and away from the Division of Banks. It would also permit ATMs into casino premises, but not onto the gaming floors themselves. (In other words, you might have to go to the gift shop to withdraw more cash.) Quoth existing law: “No electronic branch [ATM] shall be located upon premises where there occurs legalized gambling, other than a state lottery.”

The Stop Predatory Gambling Foundation was quick to attack but Senate Majority Leader Stanley Rosenberg stood his ground: “We can’t regulate federal banks, so federal banks can install them with the permission of the operator or licensee. And so what we’re trying to do is to say we don’t want them on the gaming floor. In fact, some of us don’t want them even close to the gaming floor.” (There is the question whether some Global Cash Access machines that aren’t ATMs could evade the proposed law.) He added, “A lot of people will go to these facilities and they’ll be there for entertainment and meals and stuff like that, and shopping. Not fair to keep them from getting access to ATMs. People in the heat of the battle with your slot machine may run out because they’re convinced that the next play is going to do it. No. Don’t want that dynamic in our casino.”

* Rumor du jour: Scuttlebutt has The D owner Derek Stevens making a play for Tamares Group‘s Plaza Hotel. I’m just sayin’.

* Former Mandalay Resort Group bigwig Mike Ensign‘s payment of hush money in a Washington, D.C., sex scandal is back in the news again.