A federally recognized Native American tribe in Massachusetts that’s been trying to build a casino resort in Taunton for over a decade says it will unveil a major update to the project early next year.
Earlier this month, the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe announced a groundbreaking on a welcome center on its 321 acres of sovereign land in Taunton. The facility will serve as an educational facility regarding the tribe and present the proposed First Light Resort & Casino blueprint to visitors.
Over the coming months we are thrilled to announce we will be working with the city to develop our phased plan for the future First Light Resort & Casino,” Mashpee Wampanoag Tribal Council Chair Brian Weeden told the Taunton Daily Gazette. “We are working towards presenting these plans to the public in early 2025.”
Ahead of the tribe breaking ground on its welcome center, the Wampanoags paid for remedial efforts to prep the site, which is also where the First Light destination is planned. The work consisted of removing waste from illegal dumping.
“While we did not contribute to the waste on our lands, we will once again step up as the original stewards to improve the health of the land and the water,” Weeden said. “The clean-up and landscaping project will improve the overall safety conditions in the area and remove years of illegal dumping.”
Tribe Owes Millions to City
The tribe acquired the 321 acres in 2015 after the US Department of the Interior and its Bureau of Indian Affairs took the land into the federal trust. In exchange for Taunton signing off on allowing the tribe to demolish the vacant industrial warehouses and buildings on the property to make way for a possible tribal casino, the Wampanoags, then under the leadership of Cedric Cromwell, who in 2022 was found guilty of federal extortion and bribery charges and sentenced to three years in prison, agreed to make minimum annual property tax payments to the city.
Those payments stopped in 2021 after the tribe’s casino development partner, Malaysia-based gaming and hospitality conglomerate Genting, backed out of the project. City officials claim the tribe owes more than $2.35 million in back payments.
Tribal leaders say the city will be made whole once the casino is up and running.
“Despite a host of delays outside the control of the Mashpee Wampanoag Gaming Authority, we are ready to proceed with developing new economic opportunities in the City that we believe will provide a financially solid pathway to the Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) project,” said Jim Erenzo, CFO of the Mashpee Wampanoag Gaming Authority.
Backer Unknown
For First Light to get underway, the Mashpee tribe presumably needs a financier and codeveloper. The Native American community has 3,200 enrolled members but it has little in the way of financial resources to bankroll the construction of a casino resort.
The tribe’s primary business engine is its First Light Shellfish Farm. The 12-acre facility in Popponesset Bay sells oysters to seafood wholesalers.
Federal law mandates that tribal casinos primarily benefit the federally recognized Native American tribe, but outside investors who help build tribal casinos can share in their profits. The tribe could reveal a new development partner when it provides its 2025 First Light Resort and Casino update.
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