State Background Investigation of Foxwoods Incomplete; Casino Hasn't Identified 55% Equity Partner

BOSTON — The Massachusetts Gaming Commission staff has been unable to complete a background investigation into Foxwoods Massachusetts, because the casino developer that hopes to construct a $1 billion project in Milford has yet to tell gaming officials who will provide 55 percent of the equity.

The report from the investigative arm of the commission, released Wednesday morning at the start of a suitability hearing, states, in part: "Due to the applicant's inability to identify the complete equity ownership of the project in a timely manner, the [Investigations and Enforcement Bureau] cannot submit a complete investigatory report and recommendation to the commission."

The Gaming Commission hearing into the application is expected to continue through the day Wednesday. It is being live streamed at www.massgaming.com.

Following a presentation by Foxwoods Resort Casino CEO Scott Butera, several commission members asked questions relating to who would make the decisions at the site. Once an equity partner is identified by Foxwoods, that entity would have to be vetted by the state commission's investigative staff. With no firm ownership or structure in place, the investigative staff forwarded to the commissioners a lengthy report of what they could determine about the application.

When asked, Butera told the gaming commission members the equity partnership should be made final within a week. The delay in the commitment, he said, was due to the  approval process. The equity partners wanted to see the agreement with Milford, first.

A "positive" suitability determination is a requirement, under Phase I of the casino licensing, for Foxwoods Massachusetts. The community vote on the project can occur before that determination is made, but the state requires applicants to be found suitable.

Milford will vote on the casino application on Nov. 19.

Outside the meeting room, during a lunch break, Commission Chairman Stephen Crosby said the commission will not make a decision Wednesday on suitability, but would hope to make that decision before Milford votes, "for the purposes of an informed electorate."

The equity share that is missing, he said, was not the result of a partner dropping out of the agreement to help build the casino, but of one not being lined up. The financial structure of the application had been in "flux" from the beginning, he said.

Nevertheless, Crosby said, the commission could decide to find Foxwoods MA suitable, pending the vetting of additional partners that are identified by the applicant.

The hearing went on as scheduled, Crosby said, despite the IEB's lack of a recommendation, because time is running out for suitability decisions. This phase of the resort gaming process ends at the end of December. "We have to get moving," Crosby said. "They're under tremendous time pressure."