Patrick concerned new casino compact could attract opposition

Is anyone asking if the Mashpee Wampanoag/Genting has completed an Application?
Is anyone wondering about those who 'negotiated' this deal?

 

 

Patrick concerned new casino compact could attract opposition

STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE

Posted Oct 16, 2012

As he heads back to the negotiating table with the Mashpee-Wampanoag Tribe to redraft a gaming compact rejected by the federal government, Gov. Deval Patrick noted Monday that the agreement was “not without dissenters” in the Legislature.

 

 

 

If the state is forced to repeatedly resubmit a compact to the federal government, it could meet roadblocks in the Legislature, although it was overwhelmingly approved this session.

 

“They are not going to keep approving whatever we put in front of them,” Patrick told reporters during a visit to the State House press gallery.

 

When lawmakers debated the gaming compact this summer, several opponents expressed concerns that a deal with the tribe would be tied up in the federal government approval process for years, preventing the southeastern part of the state from benefitting from expanded gambling.

 

Patrick said his administration was working its way through the analysis of the Bureau of Indian Affairs decision and did not yet have a timeline for resubmitting a compact. “It is very frustrating for us the bureau would substitute their own judgment,” Patrick said.

 

In a letter to the governor and the tribe on Friday, the bureau objected to the balance of concessions made by the state to justify a revenue-sharing agreement that would send 21.5 percent of net casino revenue to the state.

 

The federal government also ruled the Patrick administration overstepped its authority by including hunting and fishing rights in the gaming compact, and for also trying to exert authority over non-gaming issues like the regulation of entertainment and suppliers.

 

 

 

“We have to work our way through the analysis. We as a commonwealth, the tribe with their advisors, and then we come back to the table,” he said. Patrick would not commit to lowering the state’s revenue share. “We are going to go back to the table and see. I am not forecasting any position,” he said. “I will tell you again that both we and the tribe think the bureau was wrong to substitute their judgment for that of well-informed and well-supported parties.”

Read more: Patrick concerned new casino compact could attract opposition - Wareham, MA - Wicked Local Wareham http://www.wickedlocal.com/wareham/topstories/x1890060174/Patrick-concerned-new-casino-compact-could-attract-opposition#ixzz29YyIqz94