TRIBE LOOKS AT CASINO PLANS WITH FRESH PERSPECTIVE
As he begins his first full year in office, the new head of a Massachusetts tribe says he intends to take a cautious approach to gambling while turning attention to social challenges and other economic opportunities for its members.
Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe Chairman Brian Weeden, who is 29 and is the youngest ever to hold the post, said last month’s decision by President Joe Biden’s administration to affirm the tribe’s reservation and reverse a controversial Trump-era order gives the tribe legal footing to continue pursuing its longstanding casino dreams.
But he said tribal leaders also want members to look at the idea with fresh eyes, given how much the landscape for gambling has changed.
Massachusetts currently has three major casinos — MGM Springfield, Encore Boston Harbor and the slot parlor Plainridge Park. The separate Aquinnah Wampanoag tribe has also broken ground on a more modest gambling hall on Martha’s Vineyard, though that’s been mired in legal uncertainty. And state lawmakers are weighing legislation to legalize sports betting in Massachusetts.
“We’re back to the drawing board, basically,” said Weeden, who took office in May. “There’s still an appetite for gaming. It just needs to be a smart approach. It has to be different from the past. We need to learn from our mistakes and proceed with caution.”
Meanwhile, anti-casino residents in Taunton, the city where the Mashpee Wampanoag project is proposed, have asked a Boston federal judge to reopen their legal challenge.
They argue, as they have before, that the tribe wasn’t eligible for a reservation because it wasn’t an officially recognized tribe in 1934, the year the federal Indian Reorganization Act, which laid the foundation for modern federal Indian policy, became law.
Weeden said the latest legal challenge won’t deter the tribe.
Just prior to last month’s decision, the tribe extended its deal with its Malaysian casino developer partners, Genting Berhad, for another year, according to Weeden.