Steve Wynn‘s failure to disclose a $7.5 million paternity settlement may have been the best thing that happened to Mohegan Sun‘s hopes in Massachusetts. The tribal megaresort is suing the Massachusetts Gaming Commission for failing to conduct ‘extreme vetting’ of Wynn 
Resorts. Mohegan Sun’s court filing reads, in part, “There were multiple sources–including books, reported lawsuits, and documents stemming from those lawsuits–available to the Commission during the suitability determination, licensing proceeding, and after the license award which discussed and disclosed Mr. Wynn’s sexual misconduct and mistreatment of employees. Despite this poorly-kept secret, nowhere in the IEB’s report on Wynn’s suitability is there any indication that the issue of sexual harassment was investigated, even superficially.” The bottom line is that Mohegan Sun wants Wynn Resorts stripped of its license, after which it could presumably buy Encore Boston Harbor dirt cheap.
The lawsuit furthermore accuses the MGC of being “irrevocably biased in favor of the Wynn application.” The body was certainly tilted against Mohegan Sun for the reason that Massachusetts casinos had been approved precisely to keep Bay State dollars away from competitors … like Mohegan Sun. Staying aside from the fray, the MGC says it is continuing to investigate Wynn and will wrap up its findings in the next 
couple of months. While the Wynn Resorts looked decidedly in peril for a while, several developments — including the resignation of Steve Wynn and the change of Wynn Boston Harbor to Encore Boston Harbor — have created a climate of clemency for the company. However, the company stance that it was unaware of sexual-misconduct allegations against Steve Wynn doesn’t pass the laugh test and we wonder how that will figure into the final determination. In the unlikely event that Mohegan Sun prevails, it will have Wynn Resorts between a rock and a hard place. Having invested over $1 billion in Encore so far, Wynn will want some kind of return, however puny.
* It’s every casino for itself in Pennsylvania, where sports-betting licenses are now up for grabs. This is a bit of cart-before-the-horse development, as the regulations governing sports wagering in the Keystone State haven’t yet been put into place. In fact, they’re still in the public-comment period. If you’ve got a jones for sports betting and your on the East Coast, Delaware is still the place to go.
* However, you will be able to gamble around the clock when Tiverton Casino Hotel opens on Sept. 1. It’s a provisional deal, subject to renewal in one year. Liquor sales will be cut off at 2 a.m., (or an hour earlier on weekdays) which will be a bummer for insomniac gamblers.
* Gov. John Kasich (R) may have been the reluctant father of casino gambling in Ohio but it’s been an unquestioned economic boon for the 
Buckeye State. One of the beneficiaries has been Kasich himself, whose government has collected $594 million in taxes from casinos. As for individual casinos, Dan Gilbert‘s Jack Thistledown is doing better than ever, even as his Jack Cleveland scrapes rock bottom. As Yul Brynner would say, ‘Tis a puzzlement. Wrote one columnist, “Perhaps this will change with the legalization of sports betting, but then again, given Dan Gilbert’s ownership stake in both the [Cleveland Cavaliers] and JACK Entertainment, we’ll have to settle on placing losing bets for the Cleveland Browns.” What are the odds on another immaculate 0-16 season?
