Mayor Sarno: Potential MGM Sale 'Puts Me In A Position Of Leverage And Power'

With MGM in talks to buy a casino in eastern Massachusetts and leave Springfield, local and state leaders insist they will have a significant say in how and whether that happens.

Wynn Resorts and MGM announced last week they are in preliminary conversations around the sale of the Wynn casino in Everett, which is slated to open in early summer.

If MGM bought it, the company would be legally required to sell its Springfield casino, since the state's casino law allows only one license per company.

Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno said Tuesday he considers the potential sale mere "conjecture," pointing out that both Springfield officials and the Massachusetts Gaming Commission would have to approve a license transfer. 

"If it was to occur, it puts me in a position of leverage and power to extract anything if anybody was to leave, and to also extract anybody who was going to come in," Sarno said. "Right now it's status quo."

City Councilor Mike Fenton, who chairs the casino oversight committee, noted that MGM has reportedly been in similar talks several times before.

"I don't have any reason to believe that these discussions are any different from those prior ones," Fenton said Friday. "And until such time as they manifest themselves as different, we're going to continue trying to support the project that's already been a pretty successful project here for us in Springfield."

But if MGM does try to buy the Everett casino and sell its Springfield property, Fenton said he'd have serious concerns.

"One of the evaluating criteria that resulted in us selecting MGM was the reputation of their brand. And to the extent that that brand -- through future transactions -- would consider leaving the city, that would significantly alter the terms upon which we structured that deal," Fenton said. "Actually -- it would strike to the very core of that deal."

Governor Charlie Baker said his administration will work with local officials to help ensure that, sale or not, there is no significant disruption for either host community.

"Our primary interest is in the thousands of people who work at MGM, and what that operation has meant to that part of the city of Springfield, and the 5,800 people who were supposed to start working at the Wynn Casino in Everett, and what that means for the community of Everett," said Baker, who had joined Sarno at an unrelated event in the city.

MGM Springfield earnings have been inconsistent. January showed the lowest revenue since the casino opened last summer, March showed the second highest, but the numbers fell again in April.

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