- First Light opened as scaled-down casino after years of legal turmoil
- Self-mocking ads highlight gap between megaresort dreams and reality
- Tribe pursues future financing despite Genting deal collapse
The Mashpee Wampanoag tribe’s long quest to build a casino in Taunton, Mass., hasn’t exactly been fun. But a self-mocking advertisement for its recently launched First Light gaming facility shows the tribe hasn’t lost its sense of humor.
The First Light was supposed to be a $1 billion megaresort financed by global casino giant Genting. But that deal was sunk by a series of legal and political disasters that almost saw the tribe stripped of its sovereign status. Meanwhile, its former chairman was arrested and imprisoned for corruption.
The First Light that eventually opened was in the tribes’ Welcome Center, a nondescript temporary modular facility filled with 250 slot machines.
The building was originally erected to preview the earlier, grander First Light project and educate the public about the tribe’s heritage and development goals. Now it is the project, at least for the time being.
‘Get Out of My Trailer!’
A new Facebook ad for the First Light parodies the Mashpee’s unfortunate predicament. It features a man who stumbles across a trailer park and enters a humble prefab believing it to be the casino.
“Is this where the slot machines are?” he asks hopefully as he flings open the door.
Cut to an elderly couple in bed. The woman, her hair wrapped in bright pink curlers, screams, “Get out of my trailer!”
The camera pans back to the mistaken gambler as a thrown slipper bounces off his head. He makes his excuses and leaves but appears profoundly moved by the experience.
“She’s feisty!” he reflects, passionately.
“First Light Casino. Our trailers are better than you think,” comes the perfect punchline.
The ad is one of a series of short skits in a campaign that uses humor to puncture preconceptions that people may have about the casino.
Another involves a man rolling around the casino in a Zorb ball, while yet another shows a couple playing slot machines while wearing gasmasks (the First Light is smoke free).
Goal Remains?
The First Light’s current operations are a fraction of what the original blueprint envisioned, which included a massive casino floor, multiple hotels, entertainment venues, and theme-park-scale attractions, none of which came to fruition.
However, tribal leaders have been transparent about seeking new financing and scaling the project. The long-term goal of a full Class III permanent casino remains, but it will almost certainly look different than the original $1 billion Genting vision.
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