Casino-racetrack proposed for Massachusetts

A high-profile Massachusetts developer has floated a proposal for a casino in the southeastern corner of the state that would also include a one-mile Thoroughbred track, but the project faces significant hurdles.

Tom O’Connell, the lead investor in the proposal, announced the project on Wednesday at a scheduled press conference, where he acknowledged that state law would need to be changed in order to authorize the awarding of an additional license for a so-called Class 2 casino. The project, to be located on a 275-acre site in Wareham, also includes the horse track, a hotel, and retail and restaurant space.

Various plans have been floated in Massachusetts to provide a long-term replacement for Suffolk Downs since that East Boston track closed for anything but weekend-long race meets following the 2014 live racing season. Suffolk Downs is set to be demolished later this year, but the track’s operator is exploring a plan to refurbish the Great Barrington fairgrounds in the western part of the state in order to hold live racing there.

Tom Umbrello, the executive director of the New England Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association, said that officials for the Wareham project had been in contact with horsemen’s representatives over the past several months to apprise the NEHBPA of its plans. While there are very few details yet for the racetrack, Umbrello said that horsemen would lend assistance to the project as it goes forward.

“We support anything that would restore full-time racing in Massachusetts,” Umbrello said. “That being said, the Wareham project is a long-term venture, whereas the Great Barrington project is more of the short term. It’s going to take some time.”

Any plan to expand gambling facilities in Massachusetts is sure to be met with opposition from existing casino developers and their supporters in the state legislature. In addition, the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe has been seeking federal legislation to preserve its land-trust status of tribal lands in nearby Taunton, and the tribe is likely to pursue a large casino project at the site if the recognition is approved by Congress.

Chip Tuttle, the chief operating officer of Suffolk Downs, which continues to retain a simulcasting license in the state, said that the announcement of the project “doesn’t change our plans at all” to pursue the plan to get racing up and running again at Great Barrington.

“It seems like it will be a heavy lift for [the Wareham group] to get changes in the gaming bill here,” Tuttle said.

Various proposals to resurrect racing in Massachusetts have all depended on securing use of some portion of the state’s Race Horse Development Fund to provide purse subsidies or cover operating costs. The fund receives contributions from the state’s existing casinos, and those contributions are now distributed to purse and breeding funds for Standardbred and Thoroughbred racing.

Umbrello said that the Wareham project has not progressed so far as to include discussions on whether the developers would seek distributions from the fund.

“It’s something we have to see as the plans progress,” Umbrello said.