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REEL WAMPS

WAMPALEAKS

GLADYS KRAVITZ

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State regulators wade through Mashpee tribe’s casino issues

By Colin A. Young / State House News Service

Posted Dec 6, 2019

Gaming Commission updated on Wampanoag’s ongoing legal battles.

BOSTON — As they continue to mull the question of issuing the final casino license available under an 8-year-old law, gaming commissioners were brought up to speed Thursday on the complex web of litigation and legislation surrounding the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe’s quest to secure land in trust, on which it intends to build a casino in Taunton.

The briefing from the Gaming Commission’s executive director and legal team was meant to give the decision-makers a sense of the ongoing legal wrangling over the decision to approve the tribe’s land in trust, which was granted by the Obama administration but overturned and thrown into doubt by the Trump administration. The tribe planned to construct its $1 billion First Light Resort and Casino on tribal land in Taunton, a project that would have a significant impact on the state’s commercial casino industry.

Region C, the commission’s name for Bristol, Plymouth, Barnstable, Dukes and Nantucket counties, has been an unsettled matter for the commission for years. In 2016, when it appeared a tribal casino in Taunton was likely, regulators rejected a proposal for a commercial casino in Brockton. Since then, the commission has discussed reopening the bidding for Region C, but has not been in any rush to take that step.

“What we’re attempting to do here is to provide a framework for the beginning of that discussion,” Executive Director Edward Bedrosian told commissioners at the outset of the briefing Thursday.

A federal judge’s ruling later in 2016 nullified the Obama administration’s decision to grant the Wampanoag a 320-acre reservation on which the tribe planned to construct a resort casino and President Donald Trump’s administration last year officially reversed the Obama-era declaration.

Since then, the tribe’s efforts to secure its land in trust status have been tied up in federal court. Deputy General Counsel Todd Grossman walked commissioners through the three main cases at play. One is Littlefield et al. v. U.S. Department of the Interior, in which a judge ruled in 2016 that the land could not be held in trust. That verdict was appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit and the appeal remains pending.

There’s also a case in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia — Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe v. Interior Secretary David Bernhardt — in which the tribe argues that the Department of the Interior secretary failed to properly consider extensive factual evidence it submitted to make the case that it should be eligible for land in trust.

Associate General Counsel Justin Stempeck told commissioners that the D.C. district case is “pending with multiple current summary judgment motions” and he estimated that no resolution would come until the latter end of a six- to nine-month window.

As the tribe works to secure its land in trust through the courts, U.S. Rep. William Keating, who represents Taunton and Mashpee, has pushed legislation that would use the power of Congress to reaffirm the 2015 decision by the Interior Department to take land into trust for the tribe, though Trump has opposed it.

The U.S. House of Representatives voted 275-146 in May to approve that bill, titled the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe Reservation Reaffirmation Act, and it has not moved since being referred to the U.S. Senate that same month.

In addition to getting up to speed on the lawsuits and federal legislation involving the tribe, the commission also agreed in October to have its staff draft a request for information that would solicit information on all sorts of relevant Region C matters, like the state of the gaming market, local support and more.

Commission Chairwoman Cathy Judd-Stein said she was interested in questions that “reflect the struggle we have with respect to equity” and include an examination of the statewide implications of a Region C casino as well as the impact to the surrounding communities.

“I think we do have an obligation to consider the best interest of the commonwealth as well as the region,” she said. “It’s not lost on I don’t think any of us here that Region C folks, not all, may be interested in having a casino because of the economic benefits that we’ve seen coming through both regions A and B, yet we are not obligated ... to issue another license. So I am particularly interested in the question around the impact of Region C in the absence of our issuing a license.”

One concern, as expressed by local officials and others, is that commercial casino operators might not be willing to invest the minimum $500 million in a project that could have to compete with a nearby tribal casino. If the Gaming Commission opts to go ahead with licensing a commercial casino in Region C and the tribe is allowed to open its own casino under federal law, Massachusetts would receive no tax revenue from the tribal casino.

The commission did not vote to take any particular action Thursday but agreed to provide feedback on an eventual new draft prepared by staff at a later date.

A life-changing problem to discuss this week

The problem of commercialized gambling will be a subject of conversation in millions of American homes over the next few days as families and friends gather for Thanksgiving. Why? Because it's America's biggest most-neglected problem today. Americans are on course to lose more than $1 trillion of personal wealth to commercialized gambling over the next eight years. Our mission is to reduce this enormous loss of wealth by citizens by 50% over the same span. Below are some must-share facts along with some specific reforms that will dramatically improve the lives of millions of Americans: The Problem: Tens of millions of citizens are broke!!! And millions of citizens are now addicted to commercialized gambling. Savings is the road to wealth creation. Savings. Yet this concept of savings is almost foreign to more than half the country’s citizens. 50% of the U.S. population has zero or negative net wealth. More than 60% of citizens don’t have enough savings to cover a $1000 emergency expense. Partial Policy Solutions That Have Been Put Forward From Both Political Parties to Help Solve the Problem: Tax Cuts Tax Credits Raising the Minimum Wage Increasing Taxes on the Rich ….None of which represent a consequential fix Absent from the List is America's Biggest Most-Neglected Problem: The Life-Changing Citizen Losses of Personal Wealth to Commercialized Gambling The sheer size and scope of these financial losses lacks any comparison: The American people are expected to lose $1 trillion of their personal wealth to government-sanctioned gambling over the next eight years. In 2018 alone, they were expected to lose $118 billion. That means Americans are losing $224,505 per minute. The Way Forward Building assets, the accumulation and investment of savings, are key for anyone looking to make a better life. A home, a college fund, retirement accounts, a stock portfolio—these assets are the hallmarks of middle and upper class America, and they are all the result of savings. Building assets is the direct opposite of commercialized gambling. No single policy reform would create more financial peace for low-to-middle-income citizens than reversing the current scheme of turning millions of people who are small earners, who could be small savers, into habitual bettors. Partial List of Reform Proposals Include: To safeguard the health of minors, no kids under should be exposed to gambling ads and marketing on TV, radio, at point-of-sale, or on the internet. No advertising or marketing of commercialized gambling to low income populations. A ban on the sale of lottery products in check-cashing outlets, which serve unbanked, low-income people. No high dollar lottery tickets should be sold in low income areas (ending the practice of selling tickets greater than $5.00) Capping staking levels on all slot machine-style games, regardless whether it is a physical machine or online, to $2.00 or less. There is no justification for staking levels above $2.00. End the predatory practice of allowing commercialized gambling on credit, whether by credit card or “markers,” (interest-free loans issued by casinos.) It’s inconceivable that states encourage citizens to fund their gambling addiction using debt. Require state lotteries to track and report re-wagers and quantify their relationship to sales and subsequent prizes. Ban “loot boxes” and other elements of commercialized gambling that are currently being engineered into video games that kids under 18 are playing. Reduce the overall amount of lottery games being marketed to the public. Presently, some states offer dozens of different gambling games. For example, Texas was promoting 92 scratch games for sale in November 2019. Reduce the amount of locations where extreme forms of gambling like electronic gambling machines are being marketed by the state. Reduce the speed of the commercialized gambling being offered by states. Many of the most harmful forms of commercialized gambling are also the fastest like electronic gambling machines, online gambling, and scratch tickets. Require commercialized gambling interests to be treated the same under civil litigation laws as any other business. Create an Office of the Public Advocate committed to public service in representing state citizens in any matter that is covered by the authority of the state gambling commissions, as well as proceedings before state and federal agencies and courts, so that they are protected from being exploited and cheated by commercialized gambling operators. This is similar to what many states do in representing state utility consumers. Require that state problem gambling councils collect and report annual data on state gambling addiction numbers and on the effectiveness of the problem gambling interventions being funded (changing the measurement from how many calls are taken to how many people are moved from addicted to not addicted). Restrictions on the inducements offered to gamblers to keep them gambling or luring them to start gambling after they have stopped. Please consider how you can use your time, talent, and treasure to help move these desperately-needed, long-overdue social reforms forward over the next 18 months and let me know. Thank you. Best, Les Bernal National Director Stop Predatory Gambling ________________________________ Who We Are — - A 501c3 non-profit based in Washington, DC, we are a national social reform network of citizens and organizations from across the U.S. - We believe in improving the lives of the American people with compassion and fairness, freeing us from the lower standard of living, exploitation, and fraud that commercialized gambling spreads. - We are one of the most diverse organizations in the United States, one in which conservatives and progressives work side-by-side to improve the common good. What We Stand For — - We believe everyone should have a fair opportunity to get ahead and improve their future. - We believe every person’s life has worth and that no one is expendable. - We believe that a good society depends on the values of honesty, concern for others, mutual trust, self-discipline, sacrifice, and a work ethic that connects effort and reward. - We believe no government body should depend on predatory gambling to fund its activities. If you share our beliefs, please help sustain our work by making a tax-deductible, financial gift today of $10 or more.

Stop Predatory Gambling Foundation 100 Maryland Avenue NE, Room 310  | Washington, District of Columbia 20002 (202) 567-6996 | les@stoppredatorygambling.org