Suffolk Downs No Longer Interested In Boston Casino If Wynn Resorts Loses License
Despite a pending $1B legal challenge, the former owner of the Suffolk Downs horse track is no longer after Wynn Resorts’ Greater Boston casino license.
Sterling Suffolk Racecourse filed a $1B lawsuit last year against Wynn Resorts and the company's ex-CEO, Steve Wynn, for allegedly rigging the application process to win the only license Massachusetts offered to operate a casino in Greater Boston. Wynn Resorts won the bidding process, but the fate of its license has been in jeopardy since the Massachusetts Gaming Commission launched an investigation into the company and how much it knew of Steve Wynn’s alleged sexual misconduct.
If Wynn Resorts loses the license, don’t expect Sterling Suffolk to make another casino play, the Boston Herald reports.
“That ship has sailed,” Sterling Suffolk Chief Operating Officer Chip Tuttle told the Herald. “We’re not a player if it opens back up. We’re not interested.”
The MGC released heavily redacted minutes Friday showing it had critical information in its Wynn Resorts inquiry. The report points to a 2014 U.S. Equal Opportunity Commission complaint filed against Steve Wynn months before Wynn Resorts got its Massachusetts casino license. Tuttle told the Herald he feels the resort company actively tried to withhold that information from Massachusetts gaming regulators.
Despite the risk of losing its ability to open the $2.6B Encore Boston Harbor north of Boston, Wynn Resorts maintains it has cleaned house of executives with ties and allegiance to the company founder. The casino is expected to open in June, pending the findings of the MGC investigation.
