Posted on: December 11, 2024, 11:01h.
Last updated on: December 11, 2024, 11:33h.
The Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe in Massachusetts has announced plans to construct a welcome center on its sovereign land in Taunton.
One of two federally recognized tribes in Massachusetts, the Mashpee gained federal recognition in 2007, though their roots can be traced back to the tribe that broke bread with the Pilgrims during the first Thanksgiving. The Native community has been trying to become a gaming tribe for more than a decade with a $1 billion resort destination called First Light.
The tribe lost its funding source in Malaysia gaming giant Genting as the US Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Indian Affairs under three presidential administrations had differing opinions on whether the Mashpee’s 321 acres of land in Taunton qualified to be taken into the federal trust.
Mashpee leaders remain committed to opening a tribal casino, though state officials in Boston and Gov. Maura Healey (D) have expressed an unwillingness to enter into a Class III gaming compact with the tribe to allow the First Light property to include Las Vegas-like slot machines, live dealer table games, and sports betting.
Welcome Center Plan
This week, the tribe announced that it’s readying a small section of the First Light land for a welcome center.
This project is something everyone — the City of Taunton, residents, and Tribal citizens — have asked for. It’s a place to learn about our history, connect with our culture, and see what’s next for our reservation,” said Mashpee Wampanoag Chairman Brian Weeden.
“Our new Welcome Center is just the first of a series of steps towards realizing the First Light resort and entertainment project. This will be a place to preview the benefits of project First Light, and see what tribal stewardship of our land looks like,” Weeden added.
The tribal welcome center will present the First Light development and hype the possible benefits such a resort would bring, including jobs and new tax revenue.
Casino Backstory
The Mashpees and Genting broke ground on First Light in early 2016 after the DOI took the 321 acres of newly acquired land into the federal trust in 2015. Construction was quickly halted after a group of residents brought a legal challenge against the tribal resort.
Billionaire Neil Bluhm of Rush Street Gaming, whose company was bidding for the lone commercial casino license earmarked for the counties of Bristol, Plymouth, Nantucket, Dukes, and Barnstable in southeastern Massachusetts, helped bankroll the lawsuit. Rush Street had pitched a $677 million overhaul of the Brockton Fairgrounds.
In June 2016, a federal judge ruled the DOI and BIA erred in accepting the land. The decision was based on the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934, which says newly acquired lands can only be placed into trust for tribes that were federally recognized at the time of the law’s passing.
The DOI under President Donald Trump upheld US District Judge William Young’s ruling. Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D) unsuccessfully introduced legislation to Congress that sought to reaffirm the 2015 decision. Genting terminated its partnership with the Mashpee.
The land-into-trust decision was again overturned under President Joe Biden’s DOI. Taunton residents unsuccessfully appealed the BIA reversal, and the US Supreme Court in April 2024 upheld that the land should remain in trust.
The Massachusetts Gaming Commission (MGC) never awarded the commercial casino license for the southeastern region on saturation concerns should a tribal casino someday come to Taunton. As a result, the state’s tax and economic benefit from its 2011 Expanded Gaming Act is presumably subdued, as only three instead of four casinos are today operating.
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