Casino operator Mohegan Sun has joined the city of Revere in its lawsuit against the Massachusetts Gaming Commission (MGC). The suit, which was filed in October, accuses the MGC of giving preferential treatment to Wynn Resorts, which beat out Mohegan Sun for the lone Boston-area casino license in September.

The Connecticut-based Mohegan Sun’s filing claims the company has been “substantially harmed” by the MGC’s “numerous violations of its statutory obligations and its arbitrary and capricious actions” during the application vetting process. In reaching its decision, the MGC cited the higher number of jobs Wynn’s $1.6b proposal would create, as well as the higher percentage of revenue Wynn planned to draw from out of state gamblers than that envisioned by Mohegan Sun’s proposal in Revere.

Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority CEO Mitchell Etess told the Associated Press that the company had never previously launched a legal action protesting the awarding of a casino license but the company felt it was “really not treated fairly” during the “gravely flawed” approval process.

The lawsuit alleges that Wynn was given preferential treatment by the MGC, which allowed Wynn to revise and resubmit significant portions of its proposal, an advantage denied to Mohegan Sun. The suit also claims that the MGC let Wynn’s application slide on a dozen legally required conditions, including neighboring community obligations.

Those community obligations were a constant complaint of Boston mayor Martin Walsh, who felt Wynn was offering his city far less than Mohegan Sun had offered to offset the effect the new casino would have on regional traffic. Boston filed its own lawsuit against the MGC earlier this month and has refused to accept a $1m payment from Wynn.

STEVE WYNN’S PAY PACKET SHRINKS … OR DOES IT?

Speaking of Wynn checks, the company recently revealed it had cut the annual salary of CEO Steve Wynn (pictured). A Securities and Exchange Commission filing revealed that Steve’s pay packet had been reduced from $4m to $2.5m. Wynn spokesman Michael Weaver said the company was making “significant changes” to its executive compensation in a bid to put a more definite link between pay and company performance.

UK bookmakers have launched a new £2m responsible gambling campaign intended to remind punters to curb their impulses when gambling stops being enjoyable. The Senet Group, whose ranks include Coral, Ladbrokes, Paddy Power and William Hill, have debuted a pair of new TV adverts centered around the message that: “when the fun stops, stop.”

The TV spots (viewable below) follow a print and online campaign that launched earlier this month and were created by marketing firm The Corner. The ads – one targeting users of fixed-odds betting terminals (FOBT) and the other targeting sports bettors – both involve a take on Ram Jam’s legendary 1977 rendition of Leadbelly’s blues standard Black Betty. In each spot, a losing gambler is shown throwing a bit of a tantrum, after which everyone else breaks into song, warning the punter of the dangers of ‘Bad Betty’ behavior.

The Senet Group was formed in the wake of relentless efforts by some of the UK’s more hysterical media outlets to paint FOBT as mechanical manifestations of the Antichrist. At the same time, local councils were becoming increasingly antagonistic towards the opening of new betting shops. Figuring they’d best act before government imposed even stricter controls, the bookies agreed to rid their shops of FOBT marketing, to dedicate a portion of shop windows to responsible gambling messages and to launch the new TV campaign.

Former Civil Service Commissioner Wanda Goldwag has been named the Senet Group’s chair and independent standards commissioner. Speaking at the campaign’s launch this week, Goldwag said she’d soon be paying a visit to Gibraltar in the hopes of encouraging additional online betting operators to join the Group’s founding four members.

CRACKS EMERGE IN UK COALITION OVER GAMBLING ADS

Meanwhile, delays in publishing the UK government’s review of gambling ads are causing rifts in the ruling coalition. In a letter leaked to the Daily Mail, Liberal Democrat MP and Treasury Chief Secretary Danny Alexander urged the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) to get a move on because betting ads were taking over television.

Alexander said it had “become almost impossible to watch any kind of sports event without being bombarded by highly solicitous advertising.” Alexander scorned the “grubby deal cooked up by the last Labour government” that permitted gambling ads to run in sporting events before the 9pm ‘watershed.’ Alexander has yet to weigh in on the appropriateness of the Senet Group’s ‘Bad Betty’ ads, which will also run alongside major sporting events.