Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe updates public on casino plans

Artist's rendering of proposed First Light Resort and Casino. Image from Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe.

The Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe updated the public on plans for a casino in Taunton, Massachusetts.

The $500 million First Light Resort and Casino will feature two 300-room hotels, 3,000 slot machines, 150 table games and 40 poker tables. Amenities include a 200-seat entertainment lounge, a 400-seat buffet, two fine-dining restaurants and retail shops.

"We will build a first class destination resort casino. Throughout the design process we have carefully taken into account the needs of the city and input of residents," Chairman Cedric Cromwell said at a meeting before the city council, the Associated Press reported.

The updated design was released on the eve of the first hearing into the tribe's Class III gaming compact. And on Thursday, the Massachusetts Gaming Commission will discuss how to accept non-Indian bids for the casino in the southeastern part of the state.

"In no way, shape or form does the Massachusetts Gaming Commission decision impede our process in taking land into trust, impede our process in starting construction"»," Cromwell said at last night's meeting, The Cape Cod Times reported. "Nor does it impede anything we're doing with this project."

The Bureau of Indian Affairs has promised to make a decision on the land-into-trust application this spring. "I suspect the land in trust process will be completed in a matter of months, not years," Penny Coleman, an attorney for the tribe who used to work for the National Indian Gaming Commission, said at the meeting, the Times reported.

Get the Story:
Mashpee tribe unveils new casino design (The Cape Cod Times 5/15)
Tribe releases new renderings of proposed Taunton casino (The Taunton Daily Gazette 5/15)
Indian tribe releases new casino renderings (The Boston Globe 5/15)
Casino plans unveiled in Taunton (Turn to 10 News 5/15)
Tribe Unveils New Design For Proposed Taunton Casino (AP 5/15)

An Opinion:
Editorial: Getting a compact right (The Boston Herald 5/15)

Additional Casino Renderings: