Uncertainty To Stay After SE Mass. Casino Deadline

The casino picture in southeastern Massachusetts is expected to remain fuzzy even after a deadline passes for commercial developers to file preliminary applications with the state gambling commission.

So far only one, KG Urban Enterprises, has filed papers along with the required $400,000 application fee in advance of Monday's 5 p.m. deadline.

The state's 2011 casino law had given the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe temporary exclusivity in the region, but the commission has decided to accept other applications while continuing to monitor the tribe's efforts to overcome legal and regulatory obstacles to its casino proposal in Taunton.

The panel has also ruled that companies that are unsuccessful in their pursuit of gambling facilities elsewhere in the state could pursue future developments in southeastern Massachusetts without filing new applications by Monday's deadline.