Casino builder courts town

Wynn letter offers jobs with day care for town

December 13, 2011|By Mark Arsenault and Michele Morgan Bolton, Globe Staff | Globe Correspondent

Las Vegas casino mogul Steve Wynn, in a letter sent over the weekend to Foxborough residents, is offering jobs and dangling the promise of free employee day care if residents will accept construction of a casino resort in their town.

The developer of some of the most prominent hotels and casinos on the Las Vegas strip also promised to “listen to your concerns carefully and address them individually,’’ in a soft-sell kickoff to the wooing of Foxborough.

The letter arrived in Foxborough mailboxes yesterday. Wynn sent out about 8,000 copies, targeting households that have at least one registered voter, according to Wynn spokesman Michael Weaver. The letter followed the release of a 10-minute video pitch for the project, featuring Wynn and New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, who would lease Wynn the land for the casino on Route 1. The video aired over the weekend on Foxborough Cable Access.

Wynn, with Kraft at his side, announced earlier this month that he intended to pursue the rights to build a $1 billion casino and hotel resort near Gillette Stadium. Wynn’s plan would compete with a proposal at Suffolk Downs for the right to open a casino in the Greater Boston and Worcester area, defined by the state’s new casino law as including Foxborough.

The law also authorizes a resort-style casino and hotel in the southeastern part of the state, another in Western Massachusetts, and one slots-only gambling parlor.

Approval by a vote of the local community is one of the first hurdles in competing for casino development rights.

The sudden introduction of the casino proposal stunned many residents of Foxborough, already home to an outdoor sports stadium that hosts NFL football and major concerts that bring tremendous traffic.

So far, many residents of Foxborough and neighboring communities such as Walpole and Norfolk have loudly objected to the casino idea, setting up a Facebook page and attending a zoning meeting to complain. The Foxborough Planning Board voted last week to put off two key zoning changes needed for the casino.

“I can appreciate that some residents are fearful when they hear the word ‘casino,’ ’’ Wynn wrote to residents, tacitly acknowledging local resistance to the proposal. But he insisted that his primary business is not casino gambling, that it is developing “exemplary hotels.’’

“They have wonderful spas, great hotel rooms, unique entertainment, prize-winning restaurants, and premier convention facilities,’’ wrote Wynn. “A gaming room, representing a small portion of the resort’s overall square footage, makes it possible to build these amenities.’’