Under Massachusetts law, no company can hold more than one casino license, which makes an MGM play for Encore Boston Harbor a tricky bank shot. It was everything the gaming commission hoped it would be - a casino and entertainment center deftly integrated into the city’s long-moribund downtown, providing thousands of jobs and new revenue to the city, neighboring municipalities, and the state. MGM holds the sole resort casino license for Western Massachusetts, and last August opened the MGM Springfield resort. “I think probably Wynn Resorts wants to wash its hands of Massachusetts and move on,” said Clyde Barrow, a casino specialist at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley and former UMass professor.
Encore would be the first and, by law, the only Las Vegas-style casino in Greater Boston, the most lucrative casino market in the state.
Along the way, there have been lawsuits, resignations, and the long investigation by state regulators into the accusations against Steve Wynn. The timing of the talks seems unusual, after the Wynn company wrapped up eight years of salesmanship, design, competition, environmental cleanup, and construction to bring the Encore to the eve of its opening.
