Below please find a revised document which offers ESTIMATED schedules for the award of Category 1 (resort-casino) and Category 2 (slots-parlor) gaming licenses.  The projected schedules are based on the assumption that at least one arbitration between an applicant and a surrounding community or impacted live entertainment venue will be required and that this arbitration will take the maximum amount of days allowable under the Commission’s regulations.

If full length arbitrations are not necessary in a particular Category 1 region or for the Category 2 license, this schedule could potentially be adjusted to allow the earlier award of a gaming license.  Although these dates are based on timetables required by statute and the Commission’s regulations, they are estimates because they may need to be adjusted due to unforeseen circumstances or to improve the licensing process.

The Commission also decided that the deadline for petitions by communities seeking to be designated as surrounding communities pursuant to 205 CMR 125.01(1)(c) and petitions by venues seeking to be designated as impacted live entertainment venue pursuant to 205 CMR 126.01(1)(b) shall be January 13, 2014.

All communities designated as surrounding communities in Category 1 applications (but which have yet to execute an agreement with an applicant) must provide assent to such designation to the Commission by this January 13, 2014 deadline. The Commission decided that the January 13 deadline for providing assent to such designations will apply even in situations where a Category 1 applicant files its RFA 2 application prior to the December 31, 2013 application deadline.

The petition must also include proof of service of the petition upon the applicant.    The petition can be in the form of a letter.   In the letter / petition, the community should explain why it believes that it meets the criteria for a surrounding community set out in MGL c. 23K and the Commission’s regulation, 205 CMR 125.01.   The Community should include any information that would help the Commission make a determination whether the community is a surrounding community such as a description of likely impacts and the geographic proximity of the community to the potential gaming facility and to the host community.   The Commission will use this information in its review, which will also include a review of the RFA-2 application, the RFA-2 applicant’s detailed plan of construction, any independent evaluations, pertinent information received from the applicant, the host community, and the public, and any additional information that the commission determines to be beneficial in making its determination.

Applicants may submit a response to any petitions to the Commission by January 23, 2014.   Thereafter, the Commission may ask the applicant and the community to make a presentation to the Commission.    Throughout the surrounding community petition process, applicants and petitioning communities are strongly encouraged to continue to try to reach a mutually acceptable solution.   If an agreement is reached outside of the petition process through such discussions, the agreement may be submitted to the Commission.

The Commission has required applicants to send a copy of applications (excluding non-public segments) to all geographically adjacent communities prior to or contemporaneous with the filing of such applications with the Commission. Communities that are not geographically adjacent to a Category 1 host community may request information from applicants by submitting an e-mail request on the Host Community Agreements page.

View the estimated schedule here.