Massachusetts clears way for Everett casino expansion

State gaming regulators decided Wednesday to interpret the 2013 casino referendum in Everett to have authorized gaming on not just the current site of Encore Boston Harbor but also at least one other swath of land across the street, clearing the way for the resort-style casino's expansion to move ahead.

Encore parent company Wynn Resorts plans to construct a new building across Broadway from its resort casino to host a dedicated poker room, a second sports betting parlor, a relocated nightclub, a theater, parking garage and more. It would be connected to the casino that opened in 2019 by a pedestrian bridge.

The question the regulators had to answer Wednesday was whether the language of the June 22, 2013 referendum that cleared the way for the casino to be located in Everett authorized casino gaming at just the location specified on the ballot or whether voters approved of a casino license generally - Wynn at the time was looking from a green light from voters before it could secure a license. The casino can move ahead with some version of its planned development either way, but it can only offer sports betting and poker there with the commission's agreement that such an expansion was something the 2013 voters understood they were voting on.

The Gaming Commission ruled last March that a previous version of Wynn's development proposal -- one that did not include poker or sports betting -- would not be part of the casino's official gaming establishment and therefore would not fall under commission jurisdiction or oversight, the outcome that Encore had lobbied for.

But once sports betting was legalized in Massachusetts last summer, the casino company changed its plans and now wants its "east of Broadway" expansion to include both casino gaming (poker) and sports betting, either of which would require the facility to be considered part of the official gaming establishment and regulated by the commission. With the decision Wednesday, the full project can now be reviewed in greater detail by the Gaming Commission and other city and state officials.

The precise question before Everett voters in 2013 was, "Shall the City of Everett permit the operation of a gaming establishment licensed by the Massachusetts Gaming Commission to be located at the property located on Horizon Way (off 'Lower Broadway') in Everett, formerly known as the Monsanto Chemical Site?"

The state's gaming law prescribed the referendum language and required that it include a description of the proposed location, but it does not at all address expansion of gaming establishments.

By Colin A.Young