Wampanoags join with Mohegan Sun developers
With one stroke of a pen, the Mashpee Wampanoag Indian tribe has gained billions of dollars in resources and the business know-how of one of the world's most successful casino developers.
In what may be the tribe's boldest move to date, the Wampanoags have signed up the developers of Mohegan Sun in Connecticut as partners in a bid to open a casino in Massachusetts.
The developers -- Sol Kerzner, a South African-born international gambling magnate, and Len Wolman -- will provide as much as $1 billion to the tribe for a Mohegan Sun-like casino in Massachusetts, the tribe confirmed yesterday.
"The tribe was looking for a large investor," and Glenn Marshall, tribal chairman, "really liked what he saw at Mohegan Sun," said Scott Ferson, the tribe's spokesman. "It was the kind of quality development that Glenn and the tribe wants."
The partnership of the tribe and the Kerzner-Wolman team, known as Trading Cove Mashpee, was first reported in yesterday's Boston Herald.
Kerzner and Wolman received a $1 billion payday in developing and expanding Mohegan Sun, which opened in 1996. But some federal officials have criticized that deal as having been structured by the developers to evade a federal law meant to guarantee that all but a small share of the profits of Indian-owned casinos go to tribes, rather than outside investors like Kerzner and Wolman.
The agreement between the Mohegan tribe and the Kerzner-Wolman group avoided the congressional limit on profits by fragmenting the business deal into components. Kerzner and Wolman said at the time that the deal complied with all federal laws.
Kerzner and Wolman, who are no longer involved in Mohegan Sun, continue to reap rich profits from that casino. According to the terms of the deal with the tribe, they will receive 5 percent of the casino's gross receipts through 2014. Last year, they received about $78 million.
Whatever deal the Mashpee Wampanoags make with Kerzner and Wolman must be scrutinized by the National Indian Gaming Commission, which is charged by Congress with ensuring that tribes are the primary beneficiaries of casino revenues, Ferson said.
Ferson would not disclose the terms of the agreement between the Wampanoags and Trading Cove Mashpee.
The Kerzner-Wolman team also recently purchased and made over Lincoln Park race track in Rhode Island, now known as Twin Rivers. They invested hundreds of millions of dollars to transform the once-seedy track into a gleaming expanse of slot machines, restaurants, and other amenities.
Even with the resources of Trading Cove Mashpee, the Wampanoags have a long road ahead of them. To build a casino in Middleborough, where the tribe recently took control of a 350-acre tract, approval is required from the US Department of the Interior and from the state.
On Beacon Hill, casino opponents are sounding alarmed.
"The huge money pouring into this deal is a message to every Massachusetts citizen that they need to focus serious attention to the issue of casino gambling," said Senator Susan C. Tucker, Democrat of Andover. "Everyone will pay, even if they don't play."
Sean P. Murphy can be reached at smurphy@globe.com. 
