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Stephen P. Crosby, who has led the Massachusetts Gaming Commission from its inception to a 100-member agency overseeing the casino industry, announced Wednesday that he was leaving the board immediately, saying that false allegations of bias against him threatened the government. work of the commission.
His resignation comes as the board prepares to receive a report from its investigators on allegations of sexual misconduct against Steve Wynn, former general manager of Wynn Resorts, the Las Vegas gaming giant who got the right to
In a resignation letter sent to commission staff, Crosby said he had been twice accused since mid-September of "prejudging the results" of this investigation – by representatives of Steve Wynn and Mohegan Sun, a licensed casino company in Wynn.
"I simply can not let my involvement in these critical deliberations be used by others to hinder the commission's ability to do its job or undermine public confidence in this work," wrote Crosby.
He also noted that Suffolk Downs had recently filed a $ 1 billion lawsuit against Wynn Resorts, which Crosby said he "regurgitated" allegations of bias against him. Crosby did not participate in the 2014 decision to award the license to Wynn Resorts, as a result of a competing proposal from Mohegan Sun to Suffolk Downs in Revere.
"No accusation of bias, favoritism, the practice of corruption, violation of ethics or prejudice in the execution of this work has ever existed. "We have established our fundamental value that our work must be" participatory, transparent and equitable, "Crosby wrote. "As president, I have said time and time again that the highest priority of our work is to protect the integrity of the decision-making process. And I have repeatedly said that the appearance of integrity and the reality of integrity are essential.
"With a deep sense of sadness, regret, and frustration, I am stepping down as president of the Massachusetts Gaming Commission to give you the best opportunity to do your job without distraction," he wrote to staff. "And I leave the leadership of this organization in the very competent hands of your four commissioners."
Governor Deval Patrick appointed Crosby to the post at the end of 2011. Crosby was the first employee of the commission. His term of office would have expired in March.
The allegations against Steve Wynn were reported in January by the Wall Street Journal. The investigators worked for about eight months to determine what business leaders knew about the allegations and what they did – or did not do – about them. The commission has the power to take the license of the company, if it decides that Wynn Resorts is not fit to run a casino here.
Crosby said that on September 17, he had received a letter from a lawyer for Steve Wynn, claiming that he had "already made his decision" against the game's magnate. The letter accuses Crosby of call Wynn a "predator" in an interview.
Wynn denied ever assaulting a woman.
On September 25, Crosby received a letter from a Mohegan Sun lawyer "insisting that I had already made a decision in favor of Wynn Resorts in relevancy investigations," he said. declared.
Wynn Resorts continued to build its $ 2.5 billion resort on the Mystic River in Everett during the investigation. Steve Wynn left the company in February, sold his stock of Wynn Resorts and left the villa where he lived at the Wynn Las Vegas Resort on the Vegas Strip. The company's legal advisor, Kim Sinatra, also left the company and the company added women to the board of directors.
The name Wynn was removed from Project Everett, which is now called Encore Boston Harbor. Its opening is scheduled for June.
At the head of a commission that is used to dealing with a variety of situations, Crosby was known to engage in a great mix of journalists to defend the board and explain his decisions. For years, he was often the public face of Massachusetts casino games.
Under his leadership, the commission acted methodically – critics would say frigidly – to create the agency from scratch and to define the conditions of competition for the four coveted casino licenses it controlled. Faced with the pressure to go faster, Crosby often withdraws into an old chestnut: it is better to do it correctly than quickly. His presidency was marked not by controversial votes, but by the slow pace and consensus seeking on the five-member panel.
In early 2014, he was at the end of the commission's first licensing decision, which awarded Plainridge Park, Plainville, the license for the slot machine unit. Crosby had preferred a competing proposal in Leominster.
The Western Massachusetts casino license was awarded to MGM Resorts, the only company in the region to complete the application process. MGM Springfield, the state's first casino, opened in August.
The long competitive process of awarding the Greater Boston casino license has been very controversial, largely because of Crosby. In late 2013, he recused himself from an assessment of the Wynn Resorts real estate transaction at Everett, after revealing that a friend and former partner had an interest in the property.
In 2014, Crosby completely withdrew from Greater Boston's licensing decision after being heavily criticized for attending a party at Suffolk Downs. Although the board also oversees horse racing, Crosby acknowledged that he had become "a potential threat and distraction to our critical appearance of total impartiality".
Without Crosby, the Gaming Commission voted 3 to 1 to award the license to Wynn Resorts.
The commission also controls a resort casino license for southeastern Massachusetts that has not been awarded. The Mashpee Wampanoag tried to overcome the legal hurdles to open a tribal casino in Taunton.
The commission must meet on Thursday morning.
Mark Arsenault can be contacted at [email protected].
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