Taunton Welcome Center Will Include Gaming Machines, Tribe Says

A welcome center planned for Taunton will include gaming machines, the tribe behind the project recently revealed.

Earlier this month, the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe in Massachusetts, one of two federally recognized tribes in the commonwealth, announced plans for a welcome center on sovereign land it owns in Taunton. Shaunna O Connell, mayor of the Southeastern Massachusetts city, tells the that the tribe is planning to include some sort of gambling offering inside the forthcoming informative facility.

O Connell said there will be limited gaming offered at the welcome center as a preview to the tribe s long-planned, long-stalled .

The Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe has been trying to become economically self-sufficient by way of a casino for more than a decade. Its previous partner on the $1 billion project Malaysia-based Genting Group, which owns and operates Resorts World casino resorts around the world abandoned the development after the tribe s legal fight to have its 321 acres of land that it acquired in 2015 be taken into the federal trust persisted.

The Taunton land was a conflict-ridden determination for the Interior Department s Bureau of Indian Affairs. Under the Obama administration, the BIA said the land qualified to be taken into the federal trust. The BIA reversed course under the Trump administration only to again change its mind under the Biden administration.

The land was permanently considered in trust after a federal judge in Boston in February 2023 refused to reconsider whether the BIA erred in allowing the land to be deemed sovereign. 

The crux of the BIA battle came down to whether the Interior officials could accept newly acquired lands from tribes that gained federal recognition after the Indian Reorganization Act was passed in 1934. Though the people claim their ancestors broke bread with the Pilgrims during the first Thanksgiving, the tribe only secured federal recognition in 2007.

Being a federally recognized tribe, the Mashpee Wampanoag can operate Class I and II gaming on their sovereign territory. The gaming privileges came with the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA), enacted by Congress in 1988 to regulate the conduct of gaming on Indian lands.

IGRA defines Class I gaming as social games solely for prizes of minimal value or traditional forms of Indian gaming engaged in by individuals as part of, or in connection with, tribal ceremonies or celebrations. Class II gaming is of more importance, as the class refers to games of chance like bingo, including electronic bingo, that are played for money.

Tribes that do not have Class III gaming compacts with their host states, which allow for slot machines and live dealer table games, rely on their IGRA Class II privileges to offer electronic gaming bingo-based machines. Though the Mashpee has not yet detailed their welcome center gaming plans, O Connell said she s been told it will include 10 gaming positions.

The Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe plans to present their blueprint to the Taunton City Council early next year. Along with 10 gaming machines, the facility is expected to promote the tribe s history and show off the First Light project.

The tribe is currently cleaning up the site by removing illegal dumping. The city says the tribe additionally owes $2.35 million in back taxes that it stopped paying after abandoned the resort scheme.