Public Meetings to offer early opportunity for community members to provide the Commission feedback on nearby slots proposals

WHO:

Members of the Massachusetts Gaming Commission and members of the public

WHAT:

The Massachusetts Gaming Commission will host three public input meetings as a means to facilitate public discussion in regards to the recently submitted Category 2 or slots-parlor applications.  The purpose of these meetings is to provide community members, in both host communities and potential surrounding communities, an opportunity to provide feedback to the Commission in the early stages of the ‘Evaluation Process’.

From its inception, MassGaming has committed to ensuring an open, transparent and participatory process.  To that end, there will be three primary opportunities for interested parties to offer comment to the Commission about pending gaming applications.

• Written Comments: First, on an ongoing basis, people may submit written comments to MassGaming via email at mgccomments@state.ma.us .
• Public Input Meetings: Second, MassGaming will convene a series of public input meetings in communities adjacent to the proposed host communities for slots-parlor proposals. Commission respectfully requests that speakers either reside in or have a direct affiliation with the a host community or one of the potential surrounding communities to the particular applicant.   
• Host Community Meeting: Third, MassGaming will convene public hearings on each application in the proposed host communities.  These hearings have not yet been formatted or scheduled.

WHEN/WHERE:

Monday, October 21, 2013 at 4:00pm:  PPE/Cordish – Leominster Proposal, Lancaster Community Center, 39 Harvard Street, Lancaster, MA

Tuesday, October 22, 2013 at 4:00pm: Plainridge/Penn National Gaming Proposal, Fiske Public Library, 110 Randall Road, Wrentham, MA

Wednesday, October 23, 2013 at 4:00pm , Raynham Park, LLC Proposal, Oliver Ames High School Cafeteria, 100 Lothrop Road, Easton, MA

GUIDELINES:        

Those who wish to submit written comments relative to the upcoming input meetings may do so by sending an email to mgccomments@state.ma.us  with the town name in the subject line. All comments received via email will be distributed to the Commission for their review.

Public officials, representatives of interested parties and members of the communities who wish to address the Commission at one of the scheduled public input meetings should send an email to the above address with ‘Request to address the Commission/date’ in the subject line.  In the body of the email, the Commission respectfully requests that you include your town of residence.

In order to use the available time most efficiently, the Commission reserves the right to limit the amount of time for speakers depending on attendance at the meetings and also requests that speakers are limited to the region regarding these specific slots applications.