Mass. Gaming Commission Discusses Future Of Wynn Casino Resort
BOSTON (CBS) - "The people of Massachusetts have a right to know what the hell happened here," said a visibly upset Stephen Crosby, chair of the Massachusetts Gaming Commission, at a meeting held to discuss the future of the Wynn Resorts Everett casino project, suddenly called into question by a Wall Street Journal report claiming a "decades-long pattern of sexual misconduct by Mr. Wynn," including "pressuring employees to perform sex acts."
Gaming Commission investigators today said they were kept in the dark during their 2014 investigation of Wynn's suitability about a $7.5 million payoff to a female employee he allegedly assaulted. And today the Journal reports the Wynn Resorts Inc. board of directors is under scrutiny for what industry analysts say is a pattern of lax oversight amounting to an "overall corporate governance profile that ranks among the worst, not the best, of U.S. companies."
Amid all this, the Gaming Commission itself is now facing tough questions over the quality of its investigations and its decision to award the Greater Boston casino license to Wynn instead of another qualified competitor.
"Do you feel misled by Steve Wynn and his company?" WBZ asked Crosby.
"We are in the process of finding out whether we were told everything we were supposed to be told," he said.
"Are you concerned that you blew this one?" WBZ asked.
"I think I've made it clear that we will look at it, " Crosby said. "We will review our own behavior as well as everybody else's and make sure we did a good job."
What happens next? Crosby could only offer temporary reassurance.
"For the time being everybody's who's got jobs in Everett should go about their business and feel fine," he said.