Preliminary gaming deal confirmed
MASHPEE — Mashpee Wampanoag Tribal Council Chairman Cedric Cromwell confirmed Friday that the tribe has reached a deal with the state on a gaming compact.
In a text message to the Times Friday, the tribe leader confirmed a preliminary agreement, but stressed that it still needs to be approved by the full tribal council.
No terms of the deal have been released.
A special meeting of the council has been scheduled for 5:30 p.m. Tuesday to "discuss, review and vote" on the agreement, according to the tribe's website. That meeting will be held at tribal headquarters.
This comes one day after Gov. Deval Patrick said during his monthly radio appearance on WGBH that the two sides had reached a deal in principle.
Jason Lefferts, a spokesman for the state Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development, had no new information on the status of the compact on Friday.
The state Legislature also must approve the deal before it goes to the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs.
The previous compact reached between the tribe and the state was rejected by the bureau. In that deal, the tribe would have paid the state 21.5 percent of gross gambling revenue from its proposed $500 million casino in Taunton.
That deal was deemed by the bureau to be too lucrative to the state and with not enough concessions for the tribe.
This time the two sides have vetted elements of the compact with the Bureau of Indian Affairs in advance of reaching the deal.
The tribe's compact vote is just two days before a meeting of the Massachusetts Gaming Commission scheduled for 4 p.m. Thursday at Bristol Community College in Fall River.
At that meeting, the commission will hear testimony about whether to open up Southeastern Massachusetts, known as Region C in the legislation authorizing casinos, to commercial bids.
The tribe currently has exclusive rights to a casino in the region.
Wampanoag leaders will likely make the case that they have made progress in the 90 days given to them by the commission, pointing to the renegotiated compact.
The bureau is also actively reviewing the tribe's application to have 146 acres in Taunton taken into trust for the casino project.
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