New Bedford pitches for casino

With the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe increasingly focused on building a casino on a 350-acre tract in Middle borough, the mayor of New Bedford convened a meeting yesterday with tribal leaders for the third time in four months to ensure that his city remains in the running.

Emerging from a 90-minute meeting with the tribal leaders at City Hall, Mayor Scott Lang told reporters he and Mashpee Wampanoag chairman Glenn Marshall had agreed to keep their discussions going, even as the tribe pursues the Middleborough location.

While disclosing few details of the discussions, Lang made it plain that New Bedford wants the casino.

"If Glenn Marshall comes to me and says he wants to locate a casino in New Bedford, then we would accommodate them," Lang said.

In fact, both city officials and tribal leaders are discussing a 95-acre waterfront site with easy access from Interstate 195, according to an official familiar with the discussions.

While that site is much smaller than the one already under the tribe's control in Middleborough, it is considered big enough for a five-star hotel, casino, and other development, modeled on Mohegan Sun in Connecticut.

In his comments after the meeting, Lang said that New Bedford has the roadways, water, and other infrastructure required for a major development.

The casino sweepstakes began in earnest in February, when the federal government recognized the Mashpee Wampanoags as an authentic tribe, thus giving them broad rights to operate a casino within a 50-mile radius of their historic homeland on Cape Cod.

Since then, the tribe has focused on Middleborough and New Bedford. Last month, it took an option on the Middleborough property. The site has access from Interstate 495, and the town officials had indicated strong support for the plan for a $750 million casino.

But the tribe has yet to seal the deal in Middleborough and has until June 11 to put up $1.7 million for the purchase of about half the land there.

Meanwhile, Middle borough residents appear increas ingly split over hosting what could become one of the world's largest casinos.

With the future in Middleborough uncertain, New Bedford remains a viable option, tribal officials say.

The tribe has strong historical ties to New Bedford. While most of the tribe's 1,450 members are concentrated on the upper Cape, about 300 members live in the New Bedford area.

Whatever site the tribe chooses, there are many obstacles ahead. The Wampanoags must negotiate agreements not only with local officials, but with the federal government and the state.

And while the Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun casinos in Connecticut are generally viewed as successful, many continue to oppose an expansion of gambling on moral and economic grounds.

Meanwhile, Governor Deval Patrick is awaiting a report from a special commission on gambling as state officials ponder allowing casino gambling in the Commonwealth.