{"id":287206,"date":"2023-08-28T19:18:19","date_gmt":"2023-08-29T00:18:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=287206"},"modified":"2023-08-29T11:32:20","modified_gmt":"2023-08-29T16:32:20","slug":"mashpee-resurrects-embattled-first-light-casino-project","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/mashpee-resurrects-embattled-first-light-casino-project\/","title":{"rendered":"Mashpee Resurrects Embattled First Light Casino Project"},"content":{"rendered":"

Massachusetts\u2019 Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe has said it’s \u201cready to proceed\u201d with an interim economic development project. The Tribe believes it will provide a \u201cfinancially solid pathway\u201d to realizing its derailed First Light Casino.<\/p>\n

\"Mashpee,
An artist’s rendering of the proposed $1 billion First Light Casino, which broke ground in 2016. It\u2019s unclear whether resurrected plans for the casino are the same as the original. (Image: AP<\/em>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In a letter to the City Council of Taunton, Mass., seen by the Taunton Daily Gazette<\/em>, Tribal Gaming Authority Chief Financial Officer Jim Erenzo said the interim project would create hundreds of jobs. These would \u201conly grow during the future transition from an initial temporary project to the previously planned [casino] project,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

\n

While Erenzo didn’t expand on the nature of the \u201ctemporary project,\u201d it could refer to a temporary casino, which is sometimes erected to boost finances, build customer bases, and train staff while a large casino resort is being built.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Nor is it clear whether the vision for the permanent casino remains the same as the original billion-dollar project.<\/p>\n

Breaking Ground<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The First Light originally broke ground in 2016, soon after the Obama administration took 321 acres of land in Taunton and Mashpee into trust as the tribe\u2019s sovereign reservation. This was a necessary precursor for the tribe to organize gaming under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act.<\/p>\n

The original project would have been developed in partnership with Malaysian casino giant Genting at a cost of $1 billion. But a legal challenge brought by a group of Taunton residents and bankrolled by casino magnate Neil Bluhm torpedoed plans for the First Light.<\/p>\n

U.S. District Judge William Young determined that the federal government had been wrong to take the land into trust, because the tribe had been recognized after the enactment of the Indian Reorganization Act (IRA) of 1934. Despite being descended from the tribe that broke bread with the Pilgrims at the first Thanksgiving, the Mashpee weren’t recognized until 2007.<\/p>\n

The Trump administration agreed with the ruling and began the process of disestablishing the Mashpee\u2019s reservation, stripping the tribe of sovereignty and preventing the casino project from moving forward.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Mashpee found themselves in financial disarray and hundreds of millions in debt to Genting, which was assumed to have abandoned the casino project. But a senior Genting executive told Casino.org in 2019 on condition of anonymity that the company still backed the project and fully believed it would happen.<\/p>\n

First Light, Second Chance<\/strong><\/h2>\n

In June 2020, U.S. District Judge Paul Friedman overturned the 2016 decision, which he called \u201can abuse of discretion, and contrary to law.\u201d The Biden administration later affirmed<\/a> the land for the Mashpee.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, former Mashpee chairman Cedric Cromwell<\/a>, who oversaw the original project, was sentenced to three years in prison in November 2022 for accepting bribes related to the First Light.<\/p>\n

\n

His successor, Brian Weeden, has refused to comment on whether the tribe would resurrect the project, preferring to emphasize the need for \u201chealing\u201d after the corruption of the Cromwell administration.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

In February, a federal judge in Boston nixed an attempt<\/a> by Taunton residents to revive<\/a> their legal battle against the tribe.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Massachusetts\u2019 Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe has said it’s \u201cready to proceed\u201d with an interim economic development project. The Tribe believes it will provide a \u201cfinancially solid pathway\u201d to realizing its derailed First Light Casino. In a letter to the City Council of Taunton, Mass., seen by the Taunton Daily Gazette, Tribal Gaming Authority Chief Financial Officer […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":287207,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,60,18456],"tags":[83742,83741,27,85041,87747],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nMashpee Resurrects Embattled First Light Casino Project<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe of Massachusetts will have a second shot at its First Light Casino in Taunton, which was derailed in 2016.\" \/>\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\/mashpee-resurrects-embattled-first-light-casino-project\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Mashpee Resurrects Embattled First Light Casino Project\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe of Massachusetts will have a second shot at its First Light Casino in Taunton, which was derailed in 2016.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/mashpee-resurrects-embattled-first-light-casino-project\/\" \/>\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=\"2023-08-29T00:18:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-08-29T16:32:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/first-light.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"900\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"507\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@casinoorgphilc\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\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\/mashpee-resurrects-embattled-first-light-casino-project\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/mashpee-resurrects-embattled-first-light-casino-project\/\",\"name\":\"Mashpee Resurrects Embattled First Light Casino Project\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/mashpee-resurrects-embattled-first-light-casino-project\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/mashpee-resurrects-embattled-first-light-casino-project\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/first-light.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-08-29T00:18:19+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-08-29T16:32:20+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b\"},\"description\":\"The Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe of Massachusetts will have a second shot at its First Light Casino in Taunton, which was derailed in 2016.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/mashpee-resurrects-embattled-first-light-casino-project\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/mashpee-resurrects-embattled-first-light-casino-project\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/mashpee-resurrects-embattled-first-light-casino-project\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/first-light.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/first-light.jpg\",\"width\":900,\"height\":507,\"caption\":\"An artists\u2019 rendering of the proposed $1 billion First Light Casino, which broke ground in 2016. 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