BOSTON (State House News Service) – Preparing for the potential maladies that could accompany the planned casino in Springfield, Attorney General Maura Healey plans to provide a “beefed up presence” in the area and hopes gambling regulators follow suit.
MGM Springfield plans to redevelop three city blocks in Springfield, building a casino, hotel, retail space and residential units. The company plans to break ground on the site March 24.
Healey said she is hoping the Massachusetts Gaming Commission will establish a bureau in Springfield to “oversee what will be the first operation of a resort casino here.”
Established by the 2011 law that legalized casino gambling, the commission awarded a license to MGM after several regulatory stages, including background checks.
Gaming Commission spokeswoman Elaine Driscoll told the News Service gaming regulators “anticipate” establishing an office in Springfield, though the timeline and details of those plans have not yet been settled.
MGM Springfield announced Wednesday it will hold meetings later this month for contractors in excavation, utilities and other fields about work opportunities on the $800 million resort.
Healey supported a failed attempt to repeal the 2011 gambling law and won office last year on a platform that included an aggressive stance toward the casino industry.
“I bring a real healthy skepticism to this industry,” Healey told the News Service Thursday. “I have expressed my concerns about potential negative impacts on consumers, on workers; what we might see in terms of organized crime, money laundering, human trafficking and the like.”
A former top prosecutor within the attorney general’s office, Healey said proximity is important to police the industry and she said establishing an office for gaming regulators would send a “strong signal to MGM and the casino operators that we’re going to be watching you.”
“Consistent with my calls that the Gaming Commission beef up its resources and presence in Springfield, I too am going to beef up resources in Springfield and have in place criminal investigators and prosecutors and consumer attorneys and others,” said Healey.
Local and state officials have touted the casino plans as an economic boost for the state’s third largest city, which approved of hosting a casino by a 58 percent to 42 percent margin in a July 2013 vote.
The attorney general has an office in Springfield, and Healey said she’s working out exactly how she will increase state prosecutors’ presence in the city. Healey said she would “move resources around within my office” and she said attorney general staff working on casino issues would focus on contracting, vendors, labor matters, consumer matters and loan-sharking.
Healey said she and her staff have talked to officials from MGM and from Wynn Resorts, which won a license to build a casino in Everett.
“My job is to make sure that the public is protected, and they’ve represented to me their commitment to that as well, but I will be vigilant and a watchdog,” Healey said.
She also said she would ensure the casino companies follow through on their commitments.
On Wednesday, MGM Resorts International announced Brian Packer is the Springfield project’s vice president of development and construction, and credited him with assembling the team that helped open ARIA Resort & Casino.
