By Josh Resnek
The City of Everett can breath a sigh of relief. The license for Wynn Resorts has been granted. A tidal wave of money is about to begin rolling into the city treasury thanks to this ruling which comes at nearly the last minute.
The Encore Casino and Hotel will be opening as scheduled on June 23, 2019.
It is a costly license for Wynn Resorts.
The Massachusetts Gaming Commission fined the company $35 million for numerous violations of controlling statutes and regulations relating to pervasive failure to properly investigate in accordance with existing policies and procedures, and to notify the Commission about certain allegations of wrongdoing.
Exactly what amount of that $35 million fine will go to Everett is in question.
However, not in question is the opening, and beginning of a huge stream of income for many, many years to come to the city that it might never have accrued with any other effort.
The casino and hotel are expected to take in almost $2 billion during its first year of operation.
As many as 8 million guests and visitors to the entertainment complex are expected.
About 5,000 men and women, many of them from Everett and surrounding communities will be permanently employed.
Training is already ongoing for the employees so the opening day will go off smoothly and with precision.
Perhaps the biggest concern now that the license has finally been granted, is parking and traffic – with both expected to create serious situations locally in the months to come after the opening.
The MGC also fined company president Matt Maddox and called his performance at the three days hearings held this month “troubling.”
The company will also be made to hire an independent monitoring group to weigh, to measure and to report to the MGC how Wynn Resorts is adhering to the strict rules and regulations it must be paying close attention to.
“We are confident we have struck the correct balance and met our legal and ethical burdens,” the commission reported to the news media.
This is a great decision for the City of Everett.