Revere, unions sue gambling board over Wynn decision

REVERE ? The City of Revere and a union representing employees from Suffolk Downs has filed suit against the Massachusetts Gaming Commission over its awarding of a gaming license to Wynn Resorts in Everett.Citing what it calls a flawed process that includes multiple violations of Massachusetts law and that potentially benefits criminal interests, the lawsuit asserts the gambling commission “acted arbitrarily and capriciously, abused its discretion, violated provisions of the gambling law, gave Wynn unequal (and better) treatment than other gaming applicants, and treated other applicants unfairly and inequitably” in awarding a gaming license to Wynn.The suit asks the court to vacate the decision and order the gambling commission to award the Boston-area license in accordance with the gambling law.?By its acts and decisions, the commission has completely violated the letter of the Gaming Act, the purposes behind the Gaming Act, the Commission’s own regulations and procedures, and provisions of the Massachusetts Constitution,” according to the lawsuit.The lawsuit was filed jointly by the City of Revere and Local 103 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. IBEW represents 145 workers at Suffolk Downs, whose jobs will be eliminated when the 79-year-old track ceases operations later this year.In response, the gambling commission issued this statement through its interim director of communications, Hank Shafran:?The Gaming Commission anticipated and understands that applicants and other invested parties, who are unsuccessful in their bid for one of the limited number of highly coveted expanded gaming licenses, are going to be sorely disappointed.?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 latest effort is yet another manifestation of disappointment from invested parties after a lengthy evaluation and public deliberation process that was based solely on the merits of competing proposals.?We are confident that this complex licensing process has been executed in a manner that is comprehensive, thoughtful and fair, albeit unsatisfactory and disappointing to those who had hoped for a different outcome.”?There are a number of troubling and alarming failures by the Gaming Commission that raise serious questions about the entire process of awarding the Region A license,” said Revere Mayor Dan Rizzo. “From inequity in the process, to a failure to require adequate community mitigation, to ignoring potential criminal activity associated with the Everett land, the Commission has in almost every regard failed to live up to its obligations under the Gaming Act.”