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in try to make the access to the VSC easier to access Are you doing anything like that with respect to the work up to the opening of Encore? Yes, so there has been a few additional designated agents trained in the Region A area in addition to that Mark and I have made ourselves available to actually conduct VSCs here at our office so we kind of take everyone on a case by case basis and if they need to meet somewhere that's closer to their office or their home we're able to do so That's correct Thank you for this great presentation I like very much and recognize many of the strategies and tactics from the MGM campaign I like the cost effectiveness of the social media and the coordination with advisors and the branding but can anybody speak a little bit about what if any maybe a new tactic or an enhanced procedure that we've done as a lesson from the prior launch? Well it's funny actually we were just talking about that earlier today before this meeting I think that one of the things we've really been able to do that we've taken lessons learned even today with crafting what the announcement message is about the expansion I think we've honed messaging really well over the course of just like I said through our experience I think that we understand even how to target for earned media just the most impactful way to go about that what Commissioner Stebbins also just said got me thinking in which is that we're planning on issuing our announcement like we always do about the availability of the voluntary self exclusion program there's actually no reason why based on our research and our various contacts why we can't sort of target that announcement to key audiences even more closely so I think that we can take that announcement that today was intended to be broad and identify certain areas and send direct messaging to them for that some of our more at risk groups may have newsletters and things like that that they could include this announcement in so I think we can very specifically target there I think that's a great idea and I think that we've also taken the opportunity to enhance our digital assets for our social campaign so for example we've created a new video that's a brief snippet that would go out over Facebook and Twitter that basically is a game sense the website 101 it's a quick review that says here's how to find your way around the game sense website in types of things that might be of interest to you so we've enhanced that we've also created a digital enrollment 101 for VSE and we'll be putting that out as well so we've added some new assets we've enhanced our messaging and we can target certain groups based on the research yeah and on the programming side we're continuously evaluating kind of what the program is and I think it's reflected in the that four week training that the game sense advisors have gone through MGM is a great test case for operating in a casino that has both slot machines and table games and we've learned a great deal over the past nine months of operating at MGM and just what types of questions concerns, problems patrons are coming to the game sense program with and being able to respond to those you know the Mass Council hired a director of responsible with extensive experience and prevention and so it's beginning to look at how we fold prevention strategy kind of comprehensive prevention strategy into game sense tactics and game sense messaging and I think that that's a that's a breakthrough quite honestly we had a tool chest of game sense activities and ways of talking about it that's very good very helpful but I think that at a certain point you and our experience and through the evaluation that we've done you kind of reach that glass ceiling how do we break through that in order to continue to make this interesting make this engaging make this meaningful and working towards the sort of end goal of mitigating gambling related harm in the last thing I just want to add to sorry is we studied the metrics and performance from the game sense campaign around mgm spring field particularly how the ads performed the digital ads performed so we're able to use that Intel to decide which ads we should use for this like the more popular ones the ones that were most likely to inspire a click that went through to the website and the ones that didn't really work seeming you know that they didn't get any clicks much reach so we're able to use that Intel to hopefully have a more targeted and shop campaign for this would it be I don't know how I would personally feel about this but would it be worthwhile to try to within the communication within the messaging to try to remind those who may be in the voluntary self exclusion list that when it comes to Massachusetts you're excluded from all three casinos a propo of the new one opening and I the reason I say would it be worthwhile is clearly because this is a broad campaign targeted to a lot of people but there's this particular group that we are also interested in so do you have any thoughts as to whether that would be worthwhile yeah we had that discussion last week about how to reach out in a very discreet way to individuals that are already on the list that may not have received notification when MGM opened up that it was a statewide voluntary self exclusion list so so there's a plan for direct outreach as well as a plan to post on our website as a reminder to persons that it's a statewide list regardless of when and where you signed up if you're on the list it applies to all three casinos in Massachusetts I just want to mark acknowledge some of the work you guys have done kind of in the lead up I'm starting to call you our director of research and play your health but kind of a lead up you had a great meeting with the secretary of veterans services because we know Encore is opening up very closely to the Chelsea soldiers home we know veterans are predominantly a higher at risk population but the two of you undertook some outreach efforts over there so kudos to you for a lot of the work you've done leading up to the open thank you very much thank you Teresa for the brochures very helpful today in your presentation I think at this time it makes sense for us to break the match I appreciate everyone who's been here all morning and invite you to return if you would like and then I know we have many members of our team that need to present for the afternoon so thank you we will return and should we say 2 or is that enough it's 110 now 2 is fine excellent we will go with 2 o'clock thank you so much thank you Austin good afternoon everyone we're reconvening public meeting 272 and we left off on our agenda we are now item 4B5 Mr. Dan Madam Chair, commissioners thank you I'm here today with Burke Cain my field manager Bob DeSalvio and Jackie Crum we're here to talk about the gaming regulatory compliance review and these are all the inspections that our staff has been doing over at Encore since the beginning of February actually during that time the staff inspected 3158 slot machines even though there's only 300 3151 games on the floor after Bob changed his mind in the high limit zone sorry Bruce sorry the inspection started on February 4th and we finished it by October 1st and that was doing the denomination software the theme machine percentage payout return to the player pretty comprehensive inspections of these electronic gaming tables we also have just completed this week the inspection of 144 table games and 88 poker tables and that includes all the shuffling tables and all the equipment that comes with that we also did 12 roulette wheels and 28 ticket redemption machines we inspected 3 cashier caged the money routes on the floor security and surveillance submissions we approved over 144 submissions and the credit should go to Sterl Carpenter for all the hard work that he did on that that's months of work on that thing itself we also looked at the proposed gaming day which would be 24-7 gaming day would start at 6am in the morning emergency and critical incident response plans was reviewed and it's with the Everett department and has been approved we also looked at their credit and suspension of credit procedures and all met the requirements of our regs the liquor license has been in compliance we still have an onsite walkthrough on Friday with ABCC to complete that slot operations plan was great and then the final plan for test nights is in place I've received it from on court today of what each of the three days will look like and it was very similar to what we did at MGM and it was all acceptable I would like to take a moment to give special thanks to the field manager Burke Cain and Louis Lozano for all the hard work he's done I don't know if we'll do it he's right there he's been out there since February with the whole staff organizing everything and making sure everything gets done great job same with everybody on the staff any questions? Bruce do you want to highlight the floor? I think later on that's the agenda can you just remind me of the approval process where you say reviewed and approved does the director sign up and is there actual documentation for that? we actually review what gets submitted they look at our regs and how they're going to meet those requirements store reviews some of these things are 30-40 pages long all their submission compares it to the reg to make sure it's in compliance and after we do that review it gets the letter to do the official sign off for it it's not the case with all the presentations I know Katrina also said that you would be signing up will we is that something that you've been doing all along? it is on the internal controls it is and usually what happens is they will explain to me what the process is because I was a newbie to the industry I didn't understand credit sister did that and I would sign off on internal controls on the information security plan I think I still need to sign off on it that's what I'm interested in that's what prompted me and then you've said reviewed and approved that's the actual approval you I understand you've briefed me thank you about that everything's been met and then add you actually sign off thanks yes there is documentation in the power point about when you get to this real powerful thing it's a list of all the regulations that we reviewed and approved I'm surprised Cheryl can still see yeah it is hard the color helps anybody any questions for yeah I remember that a lot of the testing that we did initially on PPC we relied on the labs even that we had less of course less staffing of course there was also no table games I know that my recollection is right we did all of the denomination testing of the machines for MGM and that's the case you went through this quickly but that's here as well the progressive yes but our staff worked with them to learn what their inspection was this time our staff did the complete inspection all except the software approval for the advantage system which Katrina talked about earlier that was what she was referring to and then besides the denomination testing are there other actual testing that in our past someone else did like a lab now do? we pretty much do all our inspections with the games and stuff we of course always require a GLI letter saying that it's approved in our jurisdiction but the actual inspection itself our staff does completely no additional cost like we had in the past thank you Bruce just a quick question to remind remind me the critical incident prepared in this plan that's not just all the machines go dark or anything else that is more a security emergency part of the security plan you guys review it I'm assuming with conjunction with the state police I think the city of Everett reviewed it as well is there any new games here that we have not seen you'll see Pygout Tiles even though MGM is in the process of getting it I don't think they've opened it yet have they? so you'll see that in a way new games maybe on test nights we'll get you there to try it out all the slots are new models and stuff so I'm sure you'll see some things that you haven't seen before they also have the game of a sick bow that's the big table that'll light up with the three dice they're in the shape of the difference between this property and MGM a lot more private gaming rooms what does that do or change track information we have unfettered access to that but we also have complete access to the surveillance system to watch with that and their player rating system so we really kind of know what's going on in the room you'll get a big player like Michael Jordan or something that doesn't want to play out in the public where somebody owns a business or something like that that doesn't want to publicize that last three maps in the floor that's actually in the floor plan approval so I will address that later on in the agenda thank you very much next on our agenda is item 4 b6 director welts you are helping out today your colleague licensing manager Bill Curtis thank you yes good afternoon as you may have noticed I am stepping in for Mr. Curtis this morning he did submit a memorandum for your consideration which is in the packet just to give you an overview of the licensing divisions perspective the issues that are required to be brought forth for the commission for the operation certificate as far as employee compliance required for the operation certificate they do have to list the gaming employees and that's done through the LMS system and the company and the licensing division are in constant contact and that's been updated so we do have a current list of employees which complies with 25CMR 151 as far as the vendor compliance there's requirement that the vendors be licensed and registered the mechanism for this is that the company provides a disbursement report so they tell the licensing division all the money that's flowing out through the company expenditures and then the MGC verifies that so I've been in touch with Mr. Curtis that's ongoing that's done on a regular basis so they confirm that they're not spending money or spending money to vendors that are not licensed or registered it is important to remember there's some exemptions that don't have to be licensed or registered but we confirm those so that process is in place and the company is in compliance with that they are also required to submit a jobs compendium which they have done the proposed amendments to the compendium have also been submitted and the licensing team and the company work together on that and then all the documentation is not only reviewed by the licensing manager but they work with the gaming agents chiefs of Bruce Band just to check that the level of licensure is appropriate and that we're doing everything in that respect and those are approved and all that procedure has been flowing smoothly no issues on the jobs compendium the other final issue with respect to the licensing division is the gaming beverage license which Mr. Band already referenced that has been approved by the commission but we do have a final walkthrough that we're doing on Friday we'll go through with that I believe the chair will sign off on the actual license of themselves we've got a process in place to get that done so they may have their actual certificates as early as this Friday oh you already signed it so it's done which certificate was that the gaming beverage certificate so they have their different locations so the chair signs off Karen I'm sorry real quick so the gaming beverage license is allowing them to serve on the test nights however you know I know shadowing Bruce and Burke out in Springfield other issues arose around beverage service how do we kind of play that off they already have the license but we may find some discrepancies in service or what have you correct so it would be as if you had an operating casino so if there's any issues there would be a notification to the licensee an opportunity to correct the issue if there's a there becomes a pattern of non-compliance for example leaving open liquor bottles having people with access to liquor shouldn't have access there can be some enforcement action taken but there's a process and procedure in place as to the steps before we would take any action to get into the casino so just for the commission's application the whole team includes the licensing team and the and the state police investigators they've done 9 key executive licenses 152 key standard licenses 1460 gaming employee licenses 1360 service employee registrations they had 58 finger printing events and so total I think there's 2,981 licenses of registrations and Mr. Curtis asked because he's such a good leader for his team to specifically thank on his behalf his team Mary Polgarin Least of Brookner Mary and Breton Davies Terrell Blank and Connor McCourt just processing all those applications and dealing with the public getting people through the process in the most efficient way possible making them feel welcome as part of the whole licensing and registration process was important and he also wanted a shout out to trooper Scott Walker who did a lot of the finger printing and coordinating a lot of those efforts that's a big task in getting those people in and I got excellent reviews as far as the efficiency of the process not only on the licensing side but also the investigatory side and I can't thank Bill Curtis enough this is someone who was working weekends working nights always on LMS I could see emails going back and forth at all hours so he Gina Joyce and Mike Banks they really worked very very hard to make sure that these things are moving so this thing could open on time and that the project would be successful and it's been incredibly smooth on our side of the process thanks to the efforts of Bill and Karen and the team we haven't had any complaints in terms of people being held up while the application is lengthy they've been unbelievably supportive in terms of getting people processed and having a constant communication without team to that end can you just expand a little bit on the LMS the way our system has worked towards these efficiencies that you are one of the most one of the smartest things we did was implementing this LMS system just as an agency because the efficiencies especially in all parties being able to view the same database so when the applicant submits it then goes to a queue so the company can check to verify that person actually works for the casino the casino can also check where that person is in the process the person can get their notifications to the LMS system I can check how many applications are in each stage of the process there's so many ways to access the same information when we tried to do that by paper it was much more difficult one file that was located in Plainridge I'm over in Boston asking questions and getting information was much more difficult I can look up something at 9 o'clock on a Saturday night from my house through my VPN and check where an application is if I get a question or something happens so it's that direct access to information and the ability to communicate more efficiently with the applicant and the casino it keeps everybody informed and nobody's wondering what's going on here and if people know what's going on they understand so there might be a holdup if there's information they're waiting for from the applicant but then they know what it is so they're not frustrated they know and they're not left in the dark and then they feel like they're part of the process and they feel respected and in the past we also issued a number of temporary licenses not just vendors but it may happen so some individuals that was done by necessity just to manage the large influx how is that process this time? yeah and I think that's been going well too the state police particularly Gina Joyce and Mike Banks would be in communications with the casino if there were particular employees that they needed to get on very quickly in order to make operations run smoothly those would be put on a priority list the state police would understand this it could be put first in the queue so we could get it potentially a temporary license if we needed to do that they would check things that would be particularly problematic if someone had a temporary license but as long as they clear those hurdles let them have the temporary license let the process go and then if there's a problem they can always circle back later but that system worked pretty well and they were in communication it's all about communication and talking and seeing what you need any more any need for a lot more overtime hours for bail or anyone else how is the next few days the wave peaked so we're on the back end now the people the state police and the license individuals they worked really hard they were moving these things along on a regular basis so they really did a good job and we commended they took pride in it to make sure that the system was successful so I think now it's playing a little bit of catch up so if there's some folks that have temporary license you gotta circle back and get them those and then the registrations those people who are as soon as their applications complete they can get to work so we can finish up on those investigations make sure those are all set there's a little bit of catch up on the back end but as long as the business process is working we have the resources right now to get done what we need to do so we will have people either license permanently or temporarily or register before the opening and I think the temporary license has worked incredibly well we let employees know upfront that it is a temporary license and that the gaming commission has not finished their investigation we've only had a handful of candidates who have been nervous about giving notice on a previous job most people come to it knowing that they've got a clean record so they're prepared to go through that process and it's been an enormously efficient way of getting through a large volume and I just wanted to add some thanks to Bill who every once in a while we'd have these critical cases and he was on speed dial he would pick up the phone any time day, night, weekend if we had emergencies where we had to get somebody through the system as quickly as possible so just a shout out to him and I think you pulled him by mistake yesterday I did well I think it's fair that all of us are thinking of Bill today and acknowledge his exceptional work in leading here I think that the statistic, the metric here that we should be all looking at is that there are nearly 3,000 licenses in registrations process since June 4th or that may be as of June as of June I'm looking at that I'm like I think that's as of June so it was really, it was still very, very concentrated so that's what I was wondering because of course the employees have been coming in but still it's been a very concentrated time and then the same with the fingerprinting which I understand on help but Bill's leadership should be recognized and all his team so thank you and of course the collaboration again great job thanks thank you alright next item 4B7 our CFO Derek Lennon and Revenue Manager Doug O'Donnell please and Bob is still on the hot seat good afternoon Madam Chair and Commissioners good afternoon I'm joined by Doug O'Donnell Revenue Manager of the Mass Gaming Commission and we're here to give you a recommendation on the procedures for verifying taxes on gross gaming revenue one thing I do want to remind everyone is you do not see anything in your package because the documents that we deal with are highly sensitive they've been covered under non-disclosure agreements and each licensee does their revenue water a little different and we've respected that we haven't presented anything for the Plain Ridge Park opening of them verbal didn't present anything for the MGM opening of them verbal and we're doing the same thing for the Encore Boston Harbor opening just a verbal presentation I'll just do a quick overview and then I'll turn it over to Doug O'Donnell but we have been working diligently with the Encore Boston Harbor staff just as we did with our other two licensees prior to their openings to make sure that the facility has both competent staff in a good system of internal controls and procedures to provide training and oversight to the staff working at the facility who will be responsible for the daily drop count and revenue audit process to produce a daily gross gaming revenue figure prior to turning the presentation over to Doug I'd like to thank members of the MGC finance HR office as well as some of the Encore Boston Harbor team for all the work they've done Doug and his team of Sarah Ganji and Noah Lowe have been instrumental in the gross gaming revenue component of opening which you'll hear about in detail from Doug as well as getting our internal revenue recognition systems and controls in place Agnes Bollier and Jay Lee have worked tirelessly to make sure that the supplies and technology components are ordered in time as well as up to the standards that our employees get to enjoy Troop DeBanda and Natasha Martin have been aiding all of our staff in getting positions posted, on boarded in a timely fashion Jacqueline Knet she had to correct me in the pronunciation Jacqueline Knet has been a great addition to the team is she's helping with reviewing every single slot machine the testing data on it so she actually takes the handwritten sheets from the slot tax puts that into a database then compares that to what came out of the CMS and compares that to what came out of the advantage system to make sure that all three different areas of testing are in compliance Doug reviews that and then kicks it back to some of the gaming agents when there are problems or kicks it back to the NOC staff to take a look at she's also helped with all the onboardings of new employees and credentialing helping to order supplies and keeping our entire team accountable for our compliance monitoring schedule I'd like to thank the MGCIT team the IAB Gaming Agents and the IGT NOC which have been great partners throughout the entire pre-opening process the Boston Harbor team of Bob DeSalvio who calls us regularly to deal with any of these gross gaming revenue issues Frank Cassella, Kinley, Bill Pangoris and Amina have been nothing but professional, helpful, responsive and cooperative all while trying to open this major project so at this point I'd like to turn over the presentation to Doug O'Donnell in details that we've done to get to this point Good afternoon, Adam Chair and commissioners Good afternoon. I would just like to echo what Derek said about our staff and how hard they had been working over the past few months we were short staffed up until two months ago when we added an additional employee well low to our team which has been a huge help and it's you know things have been moving on very smoothly and we're quite happy with the way things have gone and Encore Boston Harbor in working with them they will be using their on-site staff to count and calculate the daily GGR which we will verify for purposes of assessing the 25% tax rate Encore will be using the IGT Advantage House Casino System for tracking play on the casino floor and calculating the daily GGR this is the exact same software package that MGM Springfield is currently using so we are very familiar and comfortable with the core reporting systems of the system it's been very helpful and it's again it's running very smoothly for all of us in February of this year the MGC Finance Team began meeting with Encore Compliance and Revenue Audit staff these meetings happened on a bi-weekly and monthly schedule and covered the following topics overview of internal controls and procedures for the slot table game GGR calculations slot audit observations in detail table game audits gaming audit and accounting compliance it was during these meetings that we were able to interact with the managers and staff that will be responsible for implementing the Advantage system and training the Revenue Audit team at Encore while the staff was not intimately familiar with the IGT's Advantage system they are extremely qualified and knowledgeable in the area of Revenue Audit gross gaming calculation and variance tracking and reconciliations with over 50 years of combined experience in the casino industry we were actually able to see documents from Wins Vegas property and how the audit process worked and as a reminder back last year when during the opening of MGM our IT team scheduled four days of training with the IGT to demonstrate the Advantage slot accounting and management system the training combined with the daily review of MGM reports from the Advantage system proved to be a helpful base to have an understanding of how the system works the Encore team has recently taken the training and they feel very comfortable and familiar with the system now we've also worked very closely with agents in the MGC team and the CMF networks to review the manual testing of the slot machines and comparing those sheets with the central monitoring system to ensure accurate GGI calculations of the slot play we have reviewed all 3,107 slot machines which they have all passed and we can thank Jacqueline Kanat for putting that spreadsheet together and going over every single machine to making sure that they did pass again our team worked very diligently and very hard in getting this process finalized and with everything we have reviewed and worked on with Encore team and our internal MGC partners the gaming agents CMS the IT team we recommend that the commission approve the daily GGR package controls and tax package is submitted to the finance office for usage during the test nights so if you have any questions we'd be more than happy to answer them for you excuse me I do I'm just somewhat familiar with the capabilities of the IGT advantage system the house system and you mentioned that there's perhaps different approaches to like this between licensees is there any similarities in terms of reports that we're going to require or are we seeing differences perhaps in the procedures that would cause us to just adjust in a different way because it's a different licensee from MGM so we're using our tax package the same baseline reports the process for reviewing and revenue audits is different from licensee MGM has a one-stop shop approach where everything goes up to the shared financial services system in Vegas where the Encore Boston Harvard team will be doing a lot of it on site the daily audit procedures are a little different on what reports are used but our tax package for deriving at same fields they're using the same electronic table game manager, same similar slips how many they pull to audit may vary differently from how many MGM pulls to audit the slips, see if all the signatures are the same on their processes so that's the differences we see and that's where each place is a little different when you look at the details of the revenue audit process but the baseline reports all the same we've been using them now for a while and seeing them and reconciling them with MGM we plan on doing the same approach or having the same approach with Encore as we do with MGM we meet with them every week or every other week to review our taxes that have been paid and any other discrepancies we may have recently we have been meeting with Encore the financial team we've had gone over every single tax report that we've had and everything is tying out so we're we feel very confident and comfortable moving forward with Encore great second director do you sign up on the report I believe that Doug might have said that he was seeking the commission's approval what is the process for that I think it's just the overall vote that we will be using the same system that we're using with MGM we're familiar with it no problem thank you for that report any questions for the questions thank you next on the agenda we're going to hear from general counsel Blue for item 4b7 legal thank you commissioners legal is here today to report on the status of two agreements the MOU between the Department of Revenue, Encore Boston Harbor and the status of the lottery agreement between the lottery and Encore Boston Harbor the MOU between the Department of Revenue, the commission and Encore Boston Harbor is required under 23K section 51 and 52 in order to set the process for sharing information between the Department of Revenue and the licensee regarding winnings and whether payments for back taxes child support or transitional assistance may be owed that agreement is complete the terms have been negotiated and the parties are currently executing it we expect it will be here for the commission to execute sometime today the lottery agreement between the Encore Boston Harbor and the lottery was executed in September of 2014 that agreement is required pursuant to 23K section 15 that has been the case with our other licensees there are sometimes amendments made after execution from time to time but our statute is complied with once that agreement is executed so Encore Boston Harbor is in compliance with that requirement and that is legal's report Catherine early on in the process with PPC for the operation of that check that review or that reconciliation between DOR's database and the casino's database had to be worked out is there any testing or procedure that we do for that or that DOR does or that the casino that the licensee is supposed to do to ensure that prior to the start of the operations so my understanding is that some of the issues that we ran into with PPC have been corrected over time the parties have understood that that process didn't work quite as well as it should and I believe DOR has also changed its platform a little bit so yes there have been significant improvements since the first memorandum with DOR and they do test it and we think there's a process now that works it works at MGM and it works it should work at Uncle Boston any further questions for General Counsel Blue thank you Catherine and thank you all thank you Second Director Petrosian I believe your update is now complete it is we'll move on now to return to Ombudsman on item number 5 on the agenda thank you chair I'm going to turn it over to Joe for a discussion of the final stage of construction requirement we discussed this previously when we discussed the detailed schedule a little bit earlier thank you commissioners this final stage of construction this is a requirement under 205 CMR 135 that determination has to be made for the final stage of construction what this does is on-core issued a bond for the project early on and has been maintaining that throughout in order to release the bond we have to make this determination so we are expecting a letter from on-core certifying that the project has reached its final stage of construction I think based on our earlier report today it's pretty clear that the project is at its final stage of construction that the final stage of certification can certainly be made so we're recommending that the commission determine that on-core Boston Harbor has reached the final stage of construction subject to the recede of the on-core Boston Harbor certification that the project has reached the final stage of construction and after we get that we take the necessary steps to allow the bond to be released which would not happen until the 23rd at the early of the year no we do not have a motion for this we have motions for the four that are opening but you can just move that it's based upon the memorandum in your commission just clarification nothing takes place even despite our motion until the letter certification letter from Boston Harbor correct and nothing takes place until at least oh I'm sorry no and I kind of gloved right through that want to see how she transcribes gloved but it's with our vote bond doesn't get released until the official certification letter arrives from on-core Boston Harbor so it's more clarification and no earlier than the 23rd and no earlier than the 20th could it just ask Peter so thank you do you have any questions no so now I think we're good without a written motion if there is one Madam Chair I request that the commission determine that the on-core Boston Harbor project has reached the final stage of construction as of the proposed opening day June 23rd 2019 subject to the receipt of the on-core Boston Harbor certification that the project has reached the final stage of construction and after such receipt of such certification staff would then take the necessary steps so that the bond may be released second any questions general counsel blue are sharing that work that works and that's fine excellent thank you I thank you thank you alrighty next on the agenda legal division general counsel blue would you like to proceed please we have director Griffin here to talk about the marketing and tourism plan and then the design and construction diversity commitment good afternoon good afternoon on June 6th we presented on-core Boston harbors regional tourism and marketing plan and on-core was there to present the plan as well as others and I recommend it's ready for approval unless you have any questions remind us they presented we were going to put it for public comment or it was just presentation and then come back and approve at a later time that's right we were consistent with what we did with the casino and western masks so we did get a full presentation earlier do we have any questions do you want any further clarifications then it's my understanding that you do need an approval under our statute do I have a motion madam chair I would move in order to fulfill pre-opening requirements of license condition 15 I move that the commission approve on-core Boston harbors regional tourism and marketing plan which was presented at the June 6th 2019 MGC public meeting and as shown in the attached documents provided that such approval shall not be construed to supersede any obligations pursuant to mass general law 23K or to the conditions of on-core harbors on-core Boston harbors license including but not limited to condition number nine which is relative to compliance with the information included in the application filed by the designated licensee in the evaluation reports filed by the commission any further comments discussion my only comment would be that the presentation was excellent at the time we appreciate the good work thank you all those in favor aye post 4-0 Catherine thank you and Director Griffin I believe you have yes diversity commitments thank you also on June 6th I was joined by on-core and we talked about all the commitments related to construction diversity and pre-opening and I'm actually not sure that we require a separate vote on this we do okay so we will and these were all the commitments relative to chapter 23K license agreements involving the affirmative marketing program the affirmative action program for equal opportunity setting the diversity goals and regular reporting which I confirmed to you at that time that on-core had satisfied all those requirements Director Griffin I'm going to just ask perhaps General Counsel Blue you could what the vote is needed because I don't have a vote planned the vote is to confirm that they met their license requirements as part of this plan Director Griffin's report indicates that they did so where the vote is just confirming that they met their commitments pursuant to the license and the statute it may perhaps for clarification when we have in the packet is the memo from May 31st that says that there's no vote required at that time it's included as a reminder but I was confused as well well that's right and I know that we have a vote but to be fair to Director Griffin we met and we also were a little bit confused as to exactly what is required as a vote we understand the compliance but we're just wondering what the obligation of the commission is in terms of meeting our statutory requirement the commission by voting to accept Director Griffin's report is confirming that Uncle Boston Harbor has complied with the terms of their license agreement by meeting these commitments this is a separate license condition also a separate statutory condition we have not rolled it up under the general you mean under Director Petrosian's report so that that's why this particular evidence of compliance needs to have a separate vote yes any further questions okay does somebody want to make a motion so that we can in fact meet our obligations sure Madam Chair I'd recommend that the commission determine that Uncle Boston Harbor has reasonably met their construction diversity pre-opening compliance requirements and commitments all those in favor aye opposed 4-0 thank you thank you so much Director Griffin thank you my apologies for the confusion and I'd like to refer you to the last three pages of the gaming regulatory compliance PowerPoint the first page is titled Casino 4 Plan yeah they're in a separate tab in the same order so yeah what they're referring to is the gaming four is that on the map you see the orange line that goes around everything inside that is gaming floor space yeah there's two fours I haven't gone to the second four yet the next page is the second four and you can see the same orange line outlining the gaming floor space with that as well your third print actually shows a path for if you come up right near our office right next to Duncan Donuts and those elevators this is where they'd be sending anybody that you know was under age around that green line which is non casino floor space sending them around the outside yeah it's around the outside of the casino floor hopefully not many people come up that elevator because they have adequate signage down below but a lot of times people just don't read signs and on the left is the hotel yeah the left side is the hotel lobby area the right would be like Duncan Donuts at the end of that yes just for point of clarification the first floor plan where you get the separate squared off gaming area that's not highlighted in green because they don't want any confusion yeah that squared off little gaming area on the left that is your stadium gaming right but in terms of you didn't highlight the green I assume because they don't intend to have people read and wander that far right no miners would go through any any area that's that gap and the gaming floor is approximately 200,000 square feet we're going to be getting a new measurement on that now that we have the orange line I'm sorry I didn't quite catch that I didn't quite catch that last point can you refer back to the slide of the first floor which is the carve out first floor see the carve out for that but that's not going to be part of the green walkway that's correct if you compare the first schematic with the last in terms of how they're going to escort miners we try to avoid any area where they're just gaming equipment on either side of the path Bruce with respect to the first floor walking plan and again we've kind of been here before with respect to MGM and understanding that people may bring their families to go to the dining establishments or to something in the convention banquet space how do you feel in terms of I feel comfortable with the way the security posts and the number of security people they have your buffet 21 and over so that restaurant gets taken out of the equation as well that might see a lot of underage people so I think it's a completely different setting than we had in MGM what's that buffet is 21 and up the only restaurant that's on the gaming floor that's accessible to miners is red 8 and we will have security stations to make sure that no one permeates that boundary between red 8 and the scene of floor and if you recall red 8 has a separate corridor that leads back to the Esplanade so that somebody who was underage would not have to cross cross the gaming floor okay and for tallies is 21 and over correct we have learned about individuals dining there and then moving on to the moving directly on to the gaming floor and you'll notice we eliminated that original idea of anything through the center this just seemed to make more sense and was a little more controllable and if I remember correctly it's marked up just by the lines change of carpet thank you change of carpet and then also that will be reinforced by lots of eyes and security lots of eyes, lots of signage we're trying to separate traffic from resort and casino but ultimately inevitably somebody will wind up in the wrong location and hence we have at least the pathway if we need to use it but the idea is to try to isolate the gaming floor and keep all miners off of it and when you do pull into the garage there's signage that says if you're going to the resort go left if you're going to the casino go right and additionally there's signage that says miners are not permitted on the casino floors or park on the other side do you know how many steps are on that green line? I do not but that's quite a walk it's about a 5 minute walk I'll calculate that using my Fitbit so this is really helpful we had been looking for this and appreciate it and appreciate the vigilance that we know you'll use to keep the miners safe so thank you I believe that you need a boat Mr. Bann yes ma'am Madam Chair I move that the commission approve the designated first and second floor casino floor plans as well as the first floor walking plan that's provided in the packet second any further discussion questions those in favor aye 4-0 thank you thank you thank you very much Mr. Bann the next four motions are the motions that you have traditionally used to start the opening process and we can take them in the order that they're listed on the agenda or we can take them in any order that you prefer the first one is the motion to approve the opening for the test and the evaluation play this allows Encore Boston Harbor to actually set up and run and to allow them to game to serve alcohol and to go through the test and evaluation process and just unrelated to the vote but just a reminder FYI any profits from those nights are usually go to charity not counted in gross gaming revenue and I believe that'll be the process here that's correct Bruce do you have any detail on hours of the test nights the first night which is the 17th is noon to 8 o'clock then we have two more test nights the 19th and 20th and that's from 4 to midnight any further questions for general counsel Madam Chair I don't I know I just wanted to I wanted to the session description you can certainly I don't get any editing actually go right ahead and read it because actually reading it may pause the question thank you in relation to the approval for the opening of test nights and evaluations I move pursuant to 205 CMR 151.03 that the commission authorize WinMass LLC doing business on core Boston Harbor referred to as the licensee to open for test play on June 17 for an evaluation and test period and sorry June 17, 19 and 20, 2019 for test period providing the following one that prior to June 17 WinMass LLC DBA on core Boston has received a certificate of occupancy from the city of Everett 2 that the licensee may accept currency in exchange for chips and other items of gaming value with the cage and gaming tables 3 the licensee may process currency and other items of value in the count room 4 the licensee may operate slot machines and other electronic gaming devices previously approved and certified in accordance with 205 CMR 144 5 the licensee shall determine how the gross gaming revenues from the test period are utilized and advise the commission at the next public commission meeting of such utilization and lasting number 6 the licensee may serve alcoholic beverages pursuant to the terms and conditions of its gaming beverage license Madam Chair just had one quick question it's certificate of occupancy it's not temporary certificate they have a temporary certificate of occupancy currently right it is possible that they have one permanent one but they may not we've left just called it a certificate of occupancy in this motion but they do have a temporary and that allows them to open to do this and my recollection is that MGM operated on a temporary certificate of occupancy for at least a month after they opened yes as did PPC just to know if we needed add temporary to the language any further questions I second that motion any further okay all those in favor aye post 4-0 thank you Catherine the next motion is the commission's motion to delegate authority to a single commissioner to observe the test night and then to ultimately if that commissioner is comfortable issue the conditional operations certificate subject to any conditions that that commissioner wishes to add to that do you want to just explain the process a little bit more so that folks who aren't as familiar understand so a commissioner will be on site for all of the test nights along with many many staff people that commissioner will meet with the staff to determine how the process is going things from how the slot machines and the table games are being run to how the money is dropped and that commissioner will meet with the staff periodically over that period to determine how things are working if there are things that need to be fixed for example if there's surveillance cameras that maybe aren't in quite the right place or if there are some other minor issues that can be fixed right of way that commissioner and staff will meet with the licensee to have those things fixed if there are other things that may take a little bit longer and they need some time to resolve as conditions to the temporary or the conditional operation certificate we should keep in mind that if the commissioner was at all concerned about opening that commissioner would have the authority to not allow the casino to open so the commissioner has the authority to do that and then that commissioner will come back and report on the results of the test in evaluation at the next commission meeting which currently is June 27th and at that point the commission will confirm what the commissioner reports and the commission will issue a permanent operation certificate with any conditions that the commission at that time decides to impose can I ask a point of clarification you said that the commissioner who would if we move forward on this that is delegated this authority could decide not to authorize the opening that commissioner would have the right to certainly report to at least one of us to say that there is an outstanding and perhaps very critical condition that has not been met and then we could convene because we do have time at any time in emergency meeting to make a decision as a group that's correct so that is I mean I think it's an important as I understand this process because I haven't been through it it's really was derived because up a few factors we operate under the open meeting law so we can't make decisions altogether and we would be making these decisions in no time the evening of test test nights when our very experienced staff and the encore folks would be describing the really being able to reveal how everything is functioning but if there were something that were so serious I think the individual who is delegated this authority should absolutely know that a tool that would be available to him or to her would be that we could convene an emergency meeting that way such a ominous decision would not have to be on their shoulders that's a great clarification I am now remembering perhaps a factor in the genesis of this delegation was when we started with Plain Ridge the test night was the night prior to their scheduled opening and so there was practically no option that you describe right and in this case we do have time and that's why I wanted to point out we do have time so no one commissioner should deal with that there would be something that would go so awry which we do not anticipate but if it did that should not be unnecessary or unfair burden to any individual we understand probably notwithstanding the open meeting law that it makes sense to have this kind of a construct for efficiency purposes Catherine just a quick question obviously not only does the appointed commissioner review gaming operations but also because we issue the alcohol up average license that they also review go around make sure stuff is put away locked up as we've talked about periodically here so it's just to be clear it's more than gaming operations it's also the alcohol operations and a further clarification is notwithstanding notwithstanding this delegation that members of the commission will be attending test night over time we will not be deliberating in fact I'm going to run if I see you to the other side of the room no I make that without joking it's a very important part of our work to see these operations in action and we make this delegation as a very important delegation but we will should people see us we will be there perhaps not for the same amount of time as whoever's delegated the authority but we will be there so that we can learn as well from our team but we will be there but we will not be there official capacity as a deliberative body we will not be speaking with each other and even the size of this casino it's quite possible that we might not even run into each other on the other side so that's just another caveat and again I haven't spoken to my fellow commissioners we have no set plans in terms of timing but if the public were to see us we are there to learn and understand the operations well I can also say that you won't see the floor any quieter than you will I'm testing it because after that it will be full on operation 24 second so do we have a motion for this I'm happy to make a motion and because I've done this once before I'm not going to offer myself up to do it again but I would ask my good neighbor commissioner O'Brien if she would be interested in being designated before and I'm on the other side of the room so I'm not twisting her arm Madam Chair I'd move pursuant to 205 CMR 15.01 subsection 1 that the commission grant to and the authority to observe and review the results of the test and evaluation needs to be held by and based upon that observation and review and any prior approvals granted by the full commission the authority if she is satisfied that the licensee has met the legal requirements described in chapter 23 K section 10 and 205 CMR sections 135 and 151.01 in subject to any conditions necessary in her discretion to issue a conditional operation certificate effective 12.01 a.m. june 21st 2019 through 12.01 a.m. june 28th 2019 which shall be subject to ratification by the full commission at its june 27th 2019 public meeting or at such earlier meeting the commission determines appropriate I further move that Commissioner O'Brien will report on the results of the test night to the full commission at the next regularly scheduled commission meeting I second that motion those in favor aye okay we have three with one abstention re-approved thank you and thank you for taking on that responsibility I am certainly Catherine would you like to go through the next vote that we apparently need the next motion is for the commission to approve the forms of the temporary and the permanent certificates of operation these are the forms that we have used for our other licensees ultimately the permanent certificate of operation will be posted at the casino the temporary one will be in their possession for the short period between the time it's issued and the time the permanent is issued we will fill in the blanks on that as we get closer to the test nights and then ultimately when you get to award the permanent certificate of operations we will fill in all of that information too so right now you're just approving the form any questions for Catherine this is the same form that we've approved before Madam Chair I would move that the commission approve the form of the temporary and the permanent operating certificates as those documents that appear in today's commission packet second questions all those in favor aye opposed 4-0 thank you last item on the agenda before commissioner updates the next motion is really the reason why we were all here today this motion allows you based upon the presentations that you received today plus earlier presentations to move that Encore Boston Harbor has met all of the requirements that need to be met up to this point and they can be allowed to open this motion is always slightly different for each of our licensees and in this case at the end of the motion what you'll see is we're asking the commission to give Encore Boston Harbor 90 days after opening to provide some of the paperwork that we might not have yet received and I know Mr. Ziemba and Mr. Delaney talked about that in their presentation where there's some letters that we're waiting for but we know the work has been done we're asking the commission to give Encore Boston Harbor 90 days to supply that to us so we can finally close it out any questions on this Catherine just thinking about something that might not be issued or forthcoming in 90 days that might be a requirement of the statute I'm just thinking in one case is the LEED certification which we know takes a while is that are you thinking of that in that 90 day window or the LEED no because we know that that takes quite some time we were a little more concerned here with some of the letters from the municipalities where we believe Encore is in compliance but we don't have the letter some of the sign-offs may be from other agencies that we need to have we don't think this is like MGM where MGM has ongoing requirements that took longer than 90 days but there might be some traffic demand management things in the section 61's we need to look at it's in this case we believe it's mostly documentation to support what we already believe is compliance I'm satisfied based on my briefing from Ombudsman Siamba and Mr. Delaney that 90 days should be sufficient to achieve the compliance that we would be confirming here with an affirmative vote I am too and I would add you know a lot of what was presented today and all of the evidence that all of the materials point to all the work that has been done before I keep comparing comparing this to MGM but they were in the case of MGM there were important elements of the project that by necessity and for other reasons had to be approved or are going to be complied with later I'm not only thinking of the presidential piece which was the subject of a lot of discussion about the commission meetings prior to the opening and then since I think that's not the case here as you say this is mostly one of documentation or verification of the documentation that exists but maybe is not yet uploaded into the system or a letter that has not yet been obtained from the agency so I'm quite comfortable with this approval I have questions for Councillor Blum on this matter and if need be on Betsman, Siemba do I have a motion? Madam Chair I would move that the commission find and determine that based upon the reports provided to the commission at the June 6 and the June 12 of 2019 commission meetings and the project updates provided to the commission at previous meetings subject to any terms and conditions expressed by the commission at those meetings and any terms and conditions determined by the single commissioner of Ryan in their discretion after the test and evaluation period that windmass LLC doing business as anchor Boston Harbor has demonstrated material compliance with MGL chapter 23K 205CMR the terms and conditions of the agreement to award the license and the license issued to windmass LLC on September 17, 2014 and effective November 7, 2014 subject to any further terms and conditions deemed appropriate or necessary by the commission and subject to the commission's right to review or revisit such material compliance in the commission's discretion I further move that as a condition of the windmass LLC anchor Boston Harbor permanent operation certificate windmass LLC DBA anchor Boston Harbor shall provide to the commission any further documentation needed to confirm its compliance with the commitments described in the commitment closeout update included in the commission packet or any other commitments described at the June 12, 2019 commission meeting no later than 90 days after the opening of anchor Boston Harbor subject to any further extensions of time granted by the commission in the commission's sole discretion any further questions on this final vote the comprehensive vote of the day great work by everybody it was excellent work we don't have our entire team here but there will be many opportunities for the commission to thank everyone who has worked so hard from our team we won't try to say names at this time although I'm sure they're all watching what we have recognized is that you've been very diligent responsible and you've taken all of these responsibilities very very seriously and that's a standard that I think our friends on court recognize that that's just how we operate so we appreciate everyone's help executive director of projession excellent job today with your team Catherine thank you very much excellent job all thank you and Austin we're not concluding yet sorry I'm just reminding his name we all know we've had discussion no further questions those in favor opposed 4-0 last item on the agenda any commission update do I have a motion to adjourn so moved those in favor 4-0 thank you Catherine sorry I thought for a minute