# Patrick ready to negotiate for casino



## kwflatbed (Dec 29, 2004)

June 10, 2008 9:27 AM

Gov. Deval Patrick says he's ready to negotiate an agreement with the Mashpee Wampanoag that would lead to a resort casino in Middleboro.
The governor told WBZ-TV on Monday that "We are prepared to negotiate within the parameters we have under existing law."
"Some form of expanded gaming is coming because the tribe has some tribal rights and we want to be ahead of that," Patrick said.
The tribe has an agreement with Middleboro to construct a $1 billion resort casino on land it owns off Route 44. It currently is seeking to have that land placed into federal trust, a process that has been ongoing for the last nine months.
The governor, whose proposal to license three commercial casinos was shot down by the House of Representatives earlier this year, presumably will seek some form of payment from the tribe in lieu of taxes. (An Indian casino on sovereign land is not subject to state or local taxes.) In Connecticut, for example, Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun give 25 percent of their slot machine revenues to the state.
Any agreement reached between the tribe and the governor would be subject to legislative approval.
Wampanaog tribal council chairman Shawn Hendricks released a statement to WBZ-TV saying, "The tribe continues to make great progress through the federal process. ... Part of that process will be to ask the commonwealth to negotiate a compact at the appropriate time."

http://www.southcoasttoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080610/NEWS/80610002


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