Is Robert Kraft getting into the casino game?

In Tuesday’s Boston Globe they ran a story detailing a proposed casino plan put forth by New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft and Steve Wynn of Wynn Casinos that would be located in Foxborough, Massachusetts across from Gillette Stadium.

Massachusetts recently passed legislation that would bring up to three resort-style casinos into the commonwealth, and apparently Robert Kraft and Steve Wynn are angling for one of the coveted licenses. According to the Boston Globe, “A $1 billion casino resort across from Gillette Stadium would include a luxury hotel, gambling hall, shops, restaurants, and convention space that its developers insisted would still feel as if it “fits in the woods” of Foxborough,”

Steve Wynn would go on to say that the proposed casino would limit its structures to under 200′, because as Wynn put it, “What is appropriate for Las Vegas would be completely out of scale and inappropriate in Massachusetts,”

Even with one of the most revered businessmen in Massachusetts in the form of Kraft backing the project there are still numerous hurdles to clear before Foxborough sees a casino, most notably passing a 2/3 referendum from Foxborough citizens.

Kraft and Wynn tried to ease the concerns of residents in the small town (despite Foxborough playing host to an NFL team) and in an exclusive interview with the Boston Globe Kraft stated: “We see this as a destination resort that will attract people from all over America and all over the world that will want to come here and have conventions and have meeting spaces and have a good time,” Kraft said, adding that visitors would “leave a lot of revenue here that will spill over to both Foxborough and the surrounding towns.”

Another hurdle will likely be the NFL, which prohibits NFL owners from owning a casino. Kraft is hoping that a technicality will get him over this issue, as he will not be the owner of the casino or have any vested interest in the casinos profits, but will simply be leasing the land to Steve Wynn at a fixed rate -we’ll have to wait and see if the NFL sees this the same way.

The proposed site in Foxborough will have plenty of competition for one of the three coveted licenses, as developers in Milford, Palmer, New Bedford, and Middleborough have already started lobbying the state in order to be a recipient of a casino license (which come at a price of $85 million).

Read the whole story at the Boston Globe