Encore Boston Harbor (previously referred to as Wynn Everett and Wynn Boston Harbor) is a luxury resort and casino located in Everett, Massachusetts, and owned by Wynn Resorts. The resort is in a commercial-industrial area on the Mystic River, about 5 miles (8.0 km) from downtown Boston. The old horse track at the East Boston-Revere border has been sold for a massive redevelopment, while Nevada-based Wynn opened its Encore Boston Harbor casino and hotel in Everett last year after investing $2.6 billion there and hiring thousands. Saris left the door open, though, for the group to pursue certain claims in state court. Suffolk Downs Owner Again Suing Wynn Resorts Over Boston Casino License. Posted on: November 27, 2020, 10:13h. Last updated on: November 27, 2020, 10:26h. Hotel and casino magnate Steve Wynn has had quite a time with his planned Everett casino on the Mystic waterfront. Wynn won the a bid over Mohegan Sun in a 3 to 1 vote in 2011. Wynn won the a bid. Steve Wynn is considering bidding to build a casino on the site of a former chemical plant in Everett, Mass., as the Las Vegas casino developer pursues a site for the second time in the Bay State.

BOSTON — Wynn Resorts has renamed the $2.5 billion casino it’s building outside of Boston to Encore Boston Harbor, as the company continues to take steps to distance itself from founder Steve Wynn after sexual misconduct allegations.

New CEO Matthew Maddox confirmed the long speculated change to state gambling regulators Friday as they considered the company’s request to remove Wynn’s name from its Massachusetts casino license.

Wynn resigned as chairman and CEO and later sold his company shares following the allegations, which he denies.

“This company is not about a man. Steve Wynn is not Wynn Resorts,” Maddox said. “Wynn Resorts is about the 25,000 employees that grow this company every day.”

Maddox said banners around the Everett waterfront site that once heralded the coming of “Wynn Boston Harbor” were being removed Friday and new ones bearing the “Encore” moniker also used at one of the company’s Las Vegas casinos were going up in their place.

Commission members didn’t comment on the change, which doesn’t require state approval.

Steve Wynn Casino Everett Mass

They’re expected to issue a decision next week on whether Steve Wynn should continue to be considered a part of the Massachusetts project for regulatory purposes.

The commission has stressed that even if Wynn’s name were removed from the company’s casino license, it would not interrupt the broader review of Wynn Resorts.

The five-member panel is investigating what the company’s board might have known about the allegations, including a $7.5 million settlement with one accuser that wasn’t disclosed when the state awarded the company a license in 2014.

A lawyer for Steve Wynn has argued that the commission no longer has jurisdiction over him because he’s a private citizen divested from “all ownership interests” in his namesake company.

Maddox outlined other ways the company is changing its corporate culture, including appointing three new women to the board of directors, providing paid parental leave, changing its sexual harassment training and creating a new department focused on gender equality, diversity and female leadership.

“Things are moving at lightning speed,” he said. “We are moving this company forward. We’re taking these issues very seriously.”

Everett Mayor Carlo DeMaria, who attended Friday’s hearing in Boston, said the name change was the right move in light of calls from sexual assault survivors, who joined a chorus of prominent state officials in requesting it, including Republican Gov. Charlie Baker and Democratic state Attorney General Maura Healey.

“There were a lot of serious allegations made,” DeMaria said. “If those prove to be true, they’re not appropriate and a name change is in the best interests of the project.”

Gina Scaramella, head of the nonprofit Boston Area Rape Crisis Center that supports sexual assault survivors, called it a positive step forward.

“It shows that we’ve reached a tipping point in how our culture responds to sexual harassment and assault,” she said.

Wynn has filed a defamation lawsuit against The Associated Press for its reporting on a separate allegation made to police.

© Jessica Rinaldi Horses raced in 2019 during the final live horse racing card ever held at Suffolk Downs.

The former owners of the Suffolk Downs racetrack first went to federal court to argue they were wronged when rival Wynn Resorts won the Greater Boston casino license.

Now, a year after that suit was dismissed, they are pursuing similar arguments in state court, with a lawsuit filed in Suffolk Superior Court last week.

It’s obviously too late to wrestle back the casino license. The old horse track at the East Boston-Revere border has been sold for a massive redevelopment, while Nevada-based Wynn opened its Encore Boston Harbor casino and hotel in Everett last year after investing $2.6 billion there and hiring thousands.

But Sterling Suffolk Racecourse wants something else: money. The partnership claims it suffered more than $1 billion in damages by losing out on the casino competition, and it wants to be compensated.

US District Judge Patti Saris dismissed Sterling Suffolk’s federal lawsuit a year ago, saying the group did not present an adequate case to support its claims of racketeering activity. (Sterling Suffolk is appealing that decision.)

Saris left the door open, though, for the group to pursue certain claims in state court.

That’s exactly what Sterling Suffolk did on Nov. 16 when it filed a lawsuit against Wynn Resorts and FBT Everett Realty LLC, the previous owner of the Wynn casino site.

Sterling Suffolk claims Wynn and a few top executives violated a state law against unfair and deceptive acts and practices, in large part by withholding information from the Massachusetts Gaming Commission that could have disqualified Wynn from holding a casino license.

Sterling Suffolk also claims Wynn’s actions to protect its casino bid interfered improperly with Sterling Suffolk’s business relationship with casino operator Mohegan Sun, which had plans to pay at least $35 million a year to use Suffolk Downs.

Representatives for Sterling Suffolk declined to comment about the new lawsuit, as did a spokesman for Wynn.

Sterling Suffolk’s state lawsuit contains many of the same allegations spelled out in its federal suit. At the heart of the argument, Sterling Suffolk says Wynn did not come clean to the Massachusetts Gaming Commission about several problems that should have disqualified Wynn from winning the license. The gaming commission eventually picked Wynn over Sterling Suffolk in 2014, essentially dooming the Suffolk Downs horse track.

Chief among the issues raised by Sterling Suffolk are the criminal records of three people with ties to FBT Everett Realty. Sterling Suffolk, in its suit, also cites problematic business partners with Wynn’s operations in the Asian gambling hub of Macau.

In addition, the suit cites the sexual misconduct allegations against former Wynn chief executive Steve Wynn. Those allegations came to light long after the gaming commission’s crucial vote. Steve Wynn has steadfastly denied he engaged in any nonconsensual activities with his accusers.

Wynn Resorts eventually paid a $35 million fine to the state to resolve concerns about the sexual misconduct claims after a state investigation into the issue.

Steve Wynn Casino Everett Mahoning

Wynn’s Everett casino, like the others in the region, has struggled this year amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Mohegan Sun has long since looked elsewhere for expansion opportunities beyond its Connecticut home base. Sterling Suffolk still runs a simulcasting operation at Suffolk Downs.

Steve Wynn Casino Everett Marina

Wynn

Steve Wynn Casino Everett Mall

The track, the last thoroughbred course in the state, hosted its final race in 2019. Richard Fields, a partner in Sterling Suffolk, hasn’t given up on the dream of a revival, and has recently joined with businessman Armand Janjigian to propose a new track off Interstate 84 in Sturbridge.