STANDING PAT: Gaming Commission Chairman Stephen P. Crosby, right, admits it was a mistake to not disclose his ties to someone connected to the Wynn Resorts casino bid but contends his office is an open book.
Gaming board boss Stephen P. Crosby is on the firing line facing a lawsuit and big decisions to make on who is awarded coveted casino licenses, but he’s embracing his high-stakes post with humor by wearing dice for cufflinks and hanging fuzzy pink dice on the rearview mirror of his BMW.
In a wide-ranging interview with the Herald yesterday, the chairman of the state Gaming Commission said he’s all in.
“These are issues that split people down the middle,” Crosby said about casinos. “People are passionate. Some people think gambling is really cool, and some people think it’s malevolent and a sin.”
But he said “the upside” is the jobs and revenue casinos will bring to the Bay State.
Crosby said the attorney general’s office is representing him in a lawsuit brought by Caesars Entertainment — which was dropped from the process to build a gaming parlor at Suffolk Downs amid concerns about alleged ties to the Russian mob.
Crosby has also been criticized for not disclosing a previous relationship with a potential casino player tied to the Wynn Resorts casino pitch in Everett. He admitted that was a mistake on his part from a public relations point of view, but said his office is an open book and insisted there is no conflict.
The gaming chief also said:
• He’s been ducking phone calls from casino tycoon Steve Wynn, including one from his boat on the Mediterranean. Crosby admitted he and Wynn spoke early on — well before the gaming titan was a committed contender for a lucrative Eastern Massachusetts casino license — about two or three times.
“I never reached out to Wynn to encourage him to do anything — ever. Not once,” Crosby said.
The calls stopped around July last year, he told the Herald.
“At some point as we began to get into the process, I said, ‘I can’t do these calls anymore,’ ” he said.
“Certainly by midsummer any calls from him I had screened by our executive director.”
• He does not keep regular contact with Gov. Deval Patrick on gaming issues and he’s only had minimal contact with the governor’s team.
• He does not keep regular contact with Gov. Deval Patrick on gaming issues and he’s only had minimal contact with the governor’s team.
• His commission will ask the state Legislature to amend a quirky tax law that requires taxes be paid each time a gambler wins $600 or more — even if they lost more than that the day before. Many other states use a $1,200 threshold.
• He doesn’t think the swearing-in of an anti-casino governor in 2015 would derail casino licensing efforts, but he is concerned about a possible referendum in 2014 that would repeal casino gambling in the Bay State.
“It’s kind of like Obama-care,” Crosby said. “After a while, the benefits start to kick in and it gets harder to rid it out.”
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