Justice Scott Kafker wrote in an opinion released Monday that a lower court judge made an error by dismissing all of FBT's lawsuit last summer (the SJC affirmed the lower court's decision to dismiss a claim that the commission had interfered with a contract) and sent the case back to the Superior Court for a fresh round of fact-finding. FBT alleges that the Gaming Commission, concerned about the possibility that someone with ties to organized crime stood to benefit from FBT's sale, improperly coerced Wynn Resorts into reducing the purchase price of FBT's Everett land by threatening to otherwise disadvantage Wynn's license application.
Wynn got the lucrative Boston-area casino license, but the Everett property ultimately sold for $35 million.
The actions of the Massachusetts Gaming Commission almost a decade ago could be put under a new microscope after the Supreme Judicial Court ruled Monday that a lower court should look more closely at the 'highly unusual character of the commission's actions' related to the award of a casino license to Wynn Resorts and the casino company's purchase of land in Everett.įBT Everett Realty agreed in 2012 to sell the land on which Encore Boston Harbor now sits to Wynn Resorts for $75 million if the casino company secured a state casino license.
