Foxwoods-backed casino shot down by Milford voters

MILFORD, Mass. – Town residents on Tuesday voted to reject Foxwoods affiliate Crossroads Massachusetts LLC’s proposal to build a $1 billion resort casino off Interstate 495, ending Foxwoods’ bid for the sole Boston-area gaming license, the Associated Press reported Wednesday.

According to an unofficial tally from the town clerk’s office, nearly two-thirds of voters rejected the Foxwoods plan, which had been granted provisional approval from the Massachusetts Gaming Commission on Friday.

The unofficial tally put the vote totals at 6,361 against the casino and 3,480 for it. Opponents cited concerns of traffic jams, increased crime and reduced property values among the reasons to vote against the casino, which supporters had said would bring jobs and more than $30 million in revenue to the town of 27,000 residents.

The rejection of the Foxwoods proposal in Milford followed two other votes earlier this month blocking casino bids by the Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority in Palmer, Mass., and Suffolk Downs in East Boston. With the Foxwoods plan shot down, and Suffolk Downs facing a Dec. 31 deadline to rework the plans for a casino at its racecourse on the East Boston-Revere border, Wynn Resorts Ltd. it the only casino developer still in the running for the Boston-area license.

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In June, voters in Everett, Mass., overwhelmingly approved the Wynn Resorts plan to build a casino along the Mystic River.

Meanwhile, the Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority has called for a recount of the Election Day vote to reject its casino-development project in Palmer, which was quashed by a margin of fewer than 100 votes. Even if the recount is resolved in Mohegan’s favor, the developer may still have to compete with MGM – whose plans for a casino in Springfield received voter approval – for the sole casino license allocated for western Massachusetts.

The Mohegan recount is scheduled for Nov. 26.

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