BOSTON -- The Massachusetts Gaming Commission on Friday afternoon unanimously agreed to let the town of Plainville to go ahead with a voter referendum Tuesday, Sept. 10 on the Plainridge slots-parlor application.
The referendum was put into question when commissioners found the Plainridge ownership group unsuitable to hold one of the state's new gambling licenses because of financial irregularities discovered at the track.
With the opportunity for landing a slots license slipping away, the owners struck a tentative deal to sell Plainridge to Penn National Gaming. Some Plainville residents, and competitors for the slots license, objected to allowing Penn National to step in at this late date for the previous owners -- who operated together as Ourway Realty LLC.
The gaming commissioners, meeting Friday in Boston, agreed that disqualifying Penn National at this point on a technicality is unwarranted.
If townspeople voting next Tuesday approve a host-community agreement with Penn National, the Pennsylvania company must still pass muster during a commission "suitability" inquiry. The design and other aspects of the Plainridge project also would have to be approved before Penn National could win the slots license.
The commission expects to award the license by December.