Artist's rendering of proposed First Light Resort and Casino. Image from Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe
Billionaire gaming mogul Steve Wynn is once again complaining about revenue sharing provisions being afforded to the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe of Massachusetts. Wynn Resorts is competing for a commercial casino license in the eastern part of the state. He says he shouldn't pay a 25 percent tax rate to the state because he will be competing with the tribe. “It would be folly to have (two) casinos competing with one another where one person pays 50 (percent) more in taxes than its neighbor,” Wynn said during a conference call with investors, The Boston Herald reported. "That person would go broke, and it won’t be me, I can assure you, nor Wynn Resorts. It will not be us.” Wynn apparently wants to pay 17 percent to the state. That would be comparable to the revenue sharing rate in the tribe's compact, which became effective today under a notice published in the Federal Register. The Indian Gaming Regulatory Act bars taxation of tribal revenues but revenue sharing provisions in Class III gaming compacts have been accepted as long as a state offers a meaningful concession. Get the Story:
Here's why Steve Wynn says he's spending so much effort on a Boston-area casino (The Boston Business Journal 2/2)
Wynn may walk if state doesn’t play ball on tax rate discrepancy (The Boston Herald 2/1)
Wampanoag compact with Patrick to become official Monday (The Cape Cod Times 1/31) Federal Register Notice:
Indian Gaming (February 4, 2014) Related Stories:
BIA publishes notice of Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe compact (1/31)
Non-Indian billionaire eyes tax cut on Massachusetts casino (1/30)
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