Vineyard tribe says it wants a casino

If the Mashpee Wampanoag Indian tribe reaches an agreement with the state to open the first casino in Massachusetts, the state's other federally recognized tribe, the Aquinnah Wampanoag, will immediately seek to open a casino of its own, a tribal official declared yesterday.

"The state has to treat the tribes in the same way," said Donald Widdiss, chairman of the Aquinnah tribe, based on Martha's Vineyard.

"What they get, we get," he said in an interview. "Our rights are clear, the same as Mashpee."

The declaration by the Aquinnah Wampanoags could potentially complicate the legalized gambling debate on Beacon Hill, forcing the governor and Legislature to confront the distinct possibility not of a single casino, but of at least two.

State Representative Daniel E. Bosley, chairman of a committee expected to conduct hearings on casinos this month, said he agreed with Widdiss.

"If you do one, you have to do the other," Bosley said, citing federal law governing Indian-operated casinos. He is an adamant opponent of casinos.

The Aquinnah Wampanoags tried for almost 10 years to develop a casino in Southeastern Massachusetts, but the deal ultimately foundered in 1997 when the Legislature rejected a plan to have the tribe take over state-owned land. Now that the Mashpee Wampanoags are pushing for state approval to open a casino, the Aquinnah Wampanoags are seizing on the opportunity to revive their effort, Widdiss said.

"Events dictate that we accelerate our process for a casino, so we are doing it," Widdiss said. "We need to be ready."

The tribe is currently sorting through scores of development proposals submitted to the tribe by would-be partners, he said. The Mashpee tribe has enlisted Sol Kerzner and Len Wolman, the billionaire developers of Mohegan Sun in Connecticut, as its equity partners.

Widdiss would not name any of the potential partners, nor would he say what steps his tribe is taking to develop a casino. He said that locating a casino on the tribe's 500 acres on Martha's Vineyard is not feasible because of the opposition the tribe is likely to encounter on the island.

The 500-member Aquinnah Wampanoag tribe has been federally recognized since 1987 and had a series of development partners before the Legislature voted in 1997 against turning over state land in Fall River to the tribe for a casino, effectively killing the proposal.

The Aquinnah Wampanoag and Mashpee Wampanoag are distant cousins. Their relationship is described by tribal members as respectful but not warm, and there is no coordination or cooperation on casinos issues.

In an interview, Widdiss also reacted to a proposal last month by state Treasurer Timothy P. Cahill for the state to beat tribes into the casino business by auctioning rights to build luxury gambling resorts to the highest bidders. In addition to licensing fees that could reach the tens of millions of dollars, the state would realize taxes on state-licensed commercial casinos in what would be a better deal for the state than Indian-owned casinos, Cahill said.

But Widdiss said he believed that the financial interests of Massachusetts would be better served by agreeing to let both tribes build casinos in exchange for a revenue-sharing commitment from the tribes, a model first fashioned by the two Indian-owned casinos in Connecticut.

Without such a revenue- sharing agreement, tribes do not have to pay taxes, because tribal land is considered sovereign territory outside state or federal jurisdiction.

The Mashpee Wampanoag tribe recently unveiled a plan to build a $1 billion casino in Middleborough that would pay the town $7 million a year in compensation for accommodating the millions of expected visitors. One of the next steps for the tribe is to negotiate an agreement with the state.

Governor Deval Patrick has said he will make no decisions on casinos until receiving a report in August on the impact of gambling. It is being prepared by a commission led by Daniel O'Connell, state secretary of housing and economic development.

Under federal law, federally recognized Indian tribes have the absolute right to operate slot machines on tribal lands within states that already allow slot machines at race tracks or elsewhere within their borders. But in states such as Massachusetts, where slot machines are prohibited by law, tribes must negotiate for the right to operate slots.

Slot machines are by far the most lucrative segment of the gambling industry. The Mashantucket Pequot and Mohegan tribes in Connecticut, operators of Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun, respectively, in the 1990s traded away 25 percent of slot revenue for state permission to operate the machines, which last year amounted to $433 million.

The Connecticut tribes also received exclusivity agreements from the state under which slot machines are prohibited elsewhere in the state.

In Massachusetts, the Mashpee Wampanoag won official federal recognition as a tribe this year. Since April, the tribe has moved quickly to put together a deal for a casino that would rival Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun in size and revenues. Combined, those two casinos take in more than $3 billion annually, much of it from Massachusetts residents.

Scott Ferson, a spokesman for the Mashpee Wampanoag, reacted to Cahill's plan last month by saying the tribe welcomed such an eventuality because it would get the tribe off the hook for payment to the state in lieu of taxes.

Yesterday, Ferson said the Mashpee Wampanoags believe the state's best deal is with Indian tribes, and that includes the Aquinnah Wampanoags.

Sean P. Murphy can be reached at smurphy@globe.com.