The Massachusetts Gaming Commission offers its thanks to the men and women of Massachusetts who have served their country in the Armed Forces on this Veterans Day 2014.

Veterans across our country are facing challenges when it comes to finding work.  Certainly their skills and experience in the military are sought after by employers.  The Massachusetts legislature and Governor Deval Patrick likely had this opportunity in mind when they stressed the priority of hiring veterans and utilizing veteran-owned businesses throughout the Expanded Gaming Act of 2011.  The commission is making this effort in the legislation a priority and has made it a point to connect with our colleagues at the Massachusetts Department of Veteran Services, our Massachusetts career centers and with municipal Veterans’ Services Officers in many communities to highlight the opportunities available to our veterans.

The gaming legislation speaks to the need for our gaminglicensees to engage and target veteran owned firms throughout the design, construction and operational phases for each casino project.  Our licensees will be stressing this priority to their general contractors and sub-contractors for the upcoming design and construction project of the two Category 1 resort casino projects.  The Massachusetts Gaming Commission recognized early on that few resources exist for veteran owned businesses to identify themselves as such.  To meet this need, the commission allows through its licensing process for a business owned and managed by a veteran to share their discharge information and gain accreditation as a veteran owned business.  We recognize that this designation is important for our licensees to meet their goals and respectful of our veterans so we will not tolerate an application by someone falsely claiming to be a veteran.

In addition, veterans will be sought after to participate in the construction of these destination casinos.  MGM in Springfield and Wynn Resorts in Everett plan to construct the largest private construction projects in their respective region of the state.  Both companies are required and committed to providing veterans the opportunity to be part of the construction workforce.  In the coming weeks, the Massachusetts Gaming Commission will be reviewing and approving each licensees’ plans to effectively engage minorities, women and veterans in their construction workforce plans.  In the meantime, veterans are encouraged to consider job opportunities at the Plainridge Park casino still under construction in Plainville and expected to be opened in June of 2015.  Job opportunity, vendor needs and business licensing information for Plainridge Park is available on our website at www.massgaming.com/jobs. Additional construction, career and vendor opportunities from other projects will be made available soon so please check our website frequently.

On this Veterans Day 2014, the Massachusetts Gaming Commission is encouraged by these new opportunities for our veterans in this exciting new industry and extends our thanks for their service to our country.