{"id":27658,"date":"2015-02-19T11:33:02","date_gmt":"2015-02-19T19:33:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=27658"},"modified":"2015-02-19T11:33:02","modified_gmt":"2015-02-19T19:33:02","slug":"federal-court-rules-against-caesars-in-lawsuit-against-massachusetts-gaming-commission","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/federal-court-rules-against-caesars-in-lawsuit-against-massachusetts-gaming-commission\/","title":{"rendered":"Federal Court Rules Against Caesars in Lawsuit Against Massachusetts Gaming Commission"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Caesars
A Circuit Court judge dismissed a lawsuit filed by Caesars against Massachusetts Gaming Commission chairman Stephen Crosby. (Image: masslive.com)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Caesars Entertainment Corporation has suffered a courtroom loss in their lawsuit against the Massachusetts Gaming Commission that claimed the board had been biased in favor of Wynn Resorts in the battle over the Greater Boston casino license.<\/p>\n

In a decision reached last Friday, the First Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed Caesars\u2019 lawsuit against two Massachusetts officials that was based on allegations that they were biased against Caesars<\/a> during the process.<\/p>\n

The lawsuit was targeted against state gaming commission chairman Stephen Crosby and Karen Wells, the director of the Investigations and Enforcement Bureau.<\/p>\n

A Federal District Court had already reached the same decision to dismiss the lawsuits last May.<\/p>\n

Caesars Hoped to Build Casino at Suffolk Downs<\/b><\/h2>\n

Caesars was the group originally behind a plan to build a casino in conjunction with the Suffolk Downs racetrack in Boston. However, the company withdrew from the race after the gaming commission released an investigative report that found Caesars to be an unsuitable operator for the casino.<\/p>\n

In particular, the report raised questioned about Mitch Garber\u2019s suitability to receive a license, since he had previously been the CEO of two online gambling companies that had to reach agreements with the US Attorney\u2019s Office in New York to avoid prosecution.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Ultimately, that casino project was rejected by East Boston voters, and was replaced by an alternate plan in which Suffolk Downs would partner with Mohegan Sun<\/a> to build only on the Revere side of the track\u2019s property. That was approved by Revere voters, but a Wynn Resorts proposal in Everett was awarded the only area casino license.<\/p>\n

Caesars argued that Crosby had urged Wynn Resorts to remain in the race for the license when the company was considering dropping out due to issues with the process. The company also claimed that they did not have enough time to appeal the commission\u2019s ruling, depriving it of a property interest.<\/p>\n

Bidding for License Didn\u2019t Create Property Rights<\/b><\/h2>\n

In the most recent ruling, Judge David H. Souter found that the state commission was charged with making \u201chighly discretionary\u201d decisions, meaning that Caesars\u2019 equal protection claim could be dismissed, and that simply bidding for a public contract did not create a property right. The ruling cited a similar Supreme Judicial Court ruling as precedent for that finding.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe issue\u2026is whether Massachusetts law would recognize in the request for action by the commission a source of expectable value sufficiently reliable to be protected as property,\u201d wrote Souter. \u201cThe licensing cases point to a negative answer, and the casino licensing law does the same with unmistakable emphasis.\u201d<\/p>\n

With no protected property interest for Caesars, the court dismissed Caesars\u2019 claims that their rights to procedural and substantive due process had been violated.<\/p>\n

Through a spokesperson, the Massachusetts Gaming Commission said it was pleased with the decision to dismiss the case.<\/p>\n

\u201cChairman Crosby and director Wells, along with the commission appreciate the court\u2019s careful consideration of the issues raised by the parties and the court\u2019s recognition of the broad discretion granted to the commission by the Legislature,\u201d said commission spokesperson Elaine Driscoll. \u201cThe Commission looks forward to continuing to protect the interests of the Commonwealth and its citizens as expanded gaming is introduced to the Commonwealth.\u201d<\/p>\n

The ruling should also be welcomed by Wynn Resorts, as it removes a potential complication as they move to begin building their resort in Everett.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Caesars Entertainment Corporation has suffered a courtroom loss in their lawsuit against the Massachusetts Gaming Commission that claimed the board had been biased in favor of Wynn Resorts in the battle over the Greater Boston casino license. In a decision reached last Friday, the First Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed Caesars\u2019 lawsuit against two Massachusetts […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":27659,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,13,18],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nFederal Court Rules Against Caesars in Lawsuit Against Massachusetts Gaming Commission<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"This marks the second time that Caesars\u2019 lawsuit alleging bias in the Massachusetts licensing process has been dismissed by a federal court judge.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/federal-court-rules-against-caesars-in-lawsuit-against-massachusetts-gaming-commission\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Federal Court Rules Against Caesars in Lawsuit Against Massachusetts Gaming Commission\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This marks the second time that Caesars\u2019 lawsuit alleging bias in the Massachusetts licensing process has been dismissed by a federal court judge.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/federal-court-rules-against-caesars-in-lawsuit-against-massachusetts-gaming-commission\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-02-19T19:33:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/11920197-large.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"380\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"335\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Casino.org Staff Writer\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Casino.org Staff Writer\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/federal-court-rules-against-caesars-in-lawsuit-against-massachusetts-gaming-commission\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/federal-court-rules-against-caesars-in-lawsuit-against-massachusetts-gaming-commission\/\",\"name\":\"Federal Court Rules Against Caesars in Lawsuit Against Massachusetts Gaming Commission\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/federal-court-rules-against-caesars-in-lawsuit-against-massachusetts-gaming-commission\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/federal-court-rules-against-caesars-in-lawsuit-against-massachusetts-gaming-commission\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/11920197-large.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-02-19T19:33:02+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-02-19T19:33:02+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/8c48bf89dc86da77b4d856c7b3b78d77\"},\"description\":\"This marks the second time that Caesars\u2019 lawsuit alleging bias in the Massachusetts licensing process has been dismissed by a federal court judge.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/federal-court-rules-against-caesars-in-lawsuit-against-massachusetts-gaming-commission\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/federal-court-rules-against-caesars-in-lawsuit-against-massachusetts-gaming-commission\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/federal-court-rules-against-caesars-in-lawsuit-against-massachusetts-gaming-commission\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/11920197-large.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/11920197-large.jpg\",\"width\":380,\"height\":335,\"caption\":\"A Circuit Court judge dismissed a lawsuit filed by Caesars against Massachusetts Gaming Commission chairman Stephen Crosby. 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