The casino can move ahead with some version of its planned development either way, but it can only offer sports betting and poker there with the commission’s agreement that such an expansion was something the 2013 voters understood they were voting on.
The question the regulators had to answer Wednesday was whether the language of Everett’s June 22, 2013, referendum authorized casino gaming at just the location specified on the ballot or whether voters approved of a casino license generally - Wynn at the time was looking from a green light from voters before it could secure a license. It would be connected to the casino by a pedestrian bridge. State gaming regulators decided Wednesday to allow an expansion of Encore Boston Harbor casino to a site across Broadway in Everett from its current location to move forward, interpreting the city’s 2013 casino referendum in Everett to have included the site across the street.Įncore parent company Wynn Resorts plans to construct a new building on what’s now surface parking lots across Broadway, to host a dedicated poker room, a second sports betting parlor, a relocated nightclub, a theater, parking garage and more.
