Steve Wynn has found an unlikely ally in his fight against Somerville Mayor Joseph Curtatone: the Massachusetts environmental community. Activists joined politicians and 
developers at a media event headlined by Wynn Everett President Robert DeSalvio. Among the activities that have been put on hold by Curtatone’s appeal of Wynn’s site permit are dredging of the Mystic River and remediation of the natural shoreline. Representatives of the Boston Harbor Association, Mystic River Watershed Association and the Environmental League of Massachusetts argued that Curtatone’s litigation is counterproductive, since it’s halted attempts by Wynn Resorts to stop the seepage of toxins into the river and to displace contaminated soil.
“Our plan calls for us to go well above and beyond typical remediation. We’re not saddling the taxpayers with any of this work,” DeSalvio said. Environmental League President George Bachrach dismissed Curtatone’s objections — including to the height of the hotel tower — as sour anti-gambling grapes, arguing that Curtatone’s wouldn’t be throwing a snit were it not for the casino and the project would be “a slam dunk.” Everett Mayor Carlo DeMaria took a hard shot at Curtatone, saying, “This one person is stopping this from happening. That’s what wrong with government.”
Curtatone, for his part, dismissed Wynn’s halt of construction on the casino-hotel as a “PR stunt.” It looks like he’s going to play his hand to the (very) bitter end.
* In other New England intrigue, MGM Resorts International is bankrolling the Schaghticoke Tribal Nation‘s lawsuit against Connecticut over the no-bid casino contract awarded to a joint venture of Mohegan Sun and Foxwoods Resort Casino. “We’ve entered into a collaboration because we together believe that Special Act 15-7 is unconstitutional and it denies both of us a fair, equal opportunity to compete for Connecticut’s first commercial casino. The act discriminates against MGM and the Schaghticoke Tribal Nation in similar ways,” said MGM spokesman Bernard Kavaler. The tribal joint venture, MMTC, has been pushing back with an ad campaign highlighting the revenue and jobs that are expected to be lost to MGM Springfield when it opens in 2019. Pardon us if we’re skeptical of MGM’s newfound interest in the Connecticut market, since it didn’t evince any until after MMTC was formed.
* Columnist Steve Ruddock is vexed by American Gaming Association President Geoff Freeman‘s sudden and passionate advocacy for daily fantasy sports. Freeman says 
the casino industry can’t be sitting on the sidelines of the DFS debate … but that’s precisely what the AGA is doing about online gaming, Ruddock writes. Indeed, Freeman pushed hard for i-gaming legalization early in his tenure but he (and MGM CEO Jim Murren) meekly settled for a stance of neutrality after the umbrageous Sheldon Adelson got all up in their business.
“Notice that the licensed online casinos are having no trouble thriving in New Jersey, and there aren’t any major black-market competitors in New Jersey, because unlike online poker, online casinos don’t require liquidity to thrive,” Ruddock writes. (emphasis his) He adds that the AGA is “uniquely equipped” to carry the ball over the goal line: “There are multiple states on the precipice of passing an online gaming expansion bill, and several others waiting in the wings. The support of the AGA could be a great boost and help push these bills across the finish line and keep momentum rolling to new states.”
According to Ruddock, the AGA’s position is “shirking its duty to their member casinos and companies,” forfeiting billions of dollars to black-market sites and losing out on younger players who go to legal online-gambling sites such as New Jersey‘s. If the AGA hews to its current position, “based on placating some of its members who hold contrarian and unproven views,” it will only damage posterity’s view of the association, Ruddock concludes.
