In February, Wynn Resorts proposed an entertainment complex across the street from its existing Everett casino, complete with a theater, bars and restaurants, a parking garage, and eventually additional hotels.

At the time, Wynn urged the Massachusetts Gaming Commission to consider the entertainment complex as something separate and apart from its existing casino, and therefore not subject to the regulatory oversight of the commission. The argument carried the day, and the commission gave Wynn the green light to move forward with its planning.

This fall Wynn returned to the Gaming Commission with a redraft of its original proposal. It now wants gaming at the entertainment complex, including a sports betting bar and restaurant and a 21,000-square-foot poker room. Wynn also wants to relocate its nightclub across the street to provide more gaming space at the existing casino.

The shift in thinking raises an interesting question for the Gaming Commission: Can a casino extend its gambling operation beyond its original footprint? If the answer is yes, how far beyond the original footprint can it go?

Lawyers involved in the process say the state’s gaming law is silent on the issue, which means the Gaming Commission will have to make a decision based on the available evidence.

Exhibit A is the vote by Everett in June 2013 in favor of the Encore Boston Harbor casino. The referendum, which followed precisely the wording of the state gaming law, asked voters if they approved of a gaming establishment at a property located off lower Broadway formerly known as the Monsanto chemical site. With 32 percent of the city’s voters casting ballots, the measure easily passed by a margin of 86.5-13.5 percent.

The Monsanto chemical site, located on the west side of Broadway, does not include the property to the east of Broadway where Wynn Resorts wants to build its new gaming/entertainment complex. But lawyers representing Wynn and Everett are urging the commission to look beyond the strict language of the referendum and think more broadly.

Wynn’s attorney, Tony Starr, said at a hearing in November that the host community agreement between Everett and Wynn Resorts makes reference to property “in and around” the project site that the casino operator may acquire in the future. Since the host community agreement was generally available to voters at the time of the referendum in 2013, he argues the voters gave their consent for an expansion of the casino beyond the former Monsanto chemical site.

Jonathan Silverstein, an attorney representing Everett, urged the Gaming Commission to think even more broadly. “The voters were not voting simply on a project,” he said. “They’re really looking at what this project will do for the city.”

Silverstein said voters backed the casino to spur new economic development, to encourage redevelopment of blighted areas, and to generate revenues for the municipality.  “Allowing this project to proceed will continue to accomplish all of these purposes,” he said, referring to the casino expansion east of Broadway.

He said expanding the casino across the street makes sense, but he suggested an expansion farther away might not. “I don’t think under the objective person’s standard that a normally reasonable person would think that a voter would vote in favor of a casino project on the west side of Broadway but not on the east side of Broadway,” he said.

BRUCE MOHL

NEW STORIES FROM COMMONWEALTH MAGAZINE

Jubinville nominated: Gov. Charlie Baker nominated Governor’s Councilor Robert Jubinville for a clerk magistrate position at Framingham District Court. The nomination turned heads because the last time Baker nominated a sitting councilor, Jubinville balked at rewarding those with political connections. Jubinville, a Democrat, said the process “stinks to high heaven.” Read more.

MBTA land deal: The MBTA is closing in on the purchase of a chunk of land at Widett Circle to use as a layover facility for commuter rail trains. Over the years, Widett Circle has been eyed for all possible uses, including at one point an Olympic stadium. Read more.

Likes a challenge: After he leaves office, Gov. Charlie Baker plans to take the job of president of the NCAA, which is facing all sorts of challenges. “I will begin working with student-athletes and NCAA members as we modernize college sports to suit today’s world, while preserving its essential value,” he said. Read more.

Baker called coward: Chip Ford, the retiring executive director of Citizens for Limited Taxation, accuses Gov. Charlie Baker of cowardice for withdrawing his bid for pardons for Gerald Amirault and Cheryl Amirault LeFave. Barbara Anderson, who led CLT to numerous anti-tax victories before dying in 2016, was a big booster of the Amiraults.

– Ford made his comments at a press conference where he announced CLT was shutting down after 48 years and urged its followers to shift their allegiance to the Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance. Read more.

OPINION

Math is key: Marinell Rousmaniere, the president and CEO of EdVestors, calls for a massive effort to improve mathematics education, which she says is key to helping students achieve future success. Read more.

STORIES FROM ELSEWHERE AROUND THE WEB                    

BEACON HILL

Gov. Charlie Baker defends his pardon recommendation for siblings convicted of sexually abusing children in the 1980s at a Malden day care center, saying he took the step – which he then withdrew in the face of its likely rejection by the Governor’s Council – because he thought Gerald Amirault and Cheryl Amirault LaFave deserved a new trial. (Boston Globe)

MUNICIPAL MATTERS

Boston Mayor Michelle Wu proposed increasing the affordable housing requirements in larger residential development projects in the city from 13 percent of units to 20 percent of a project’s square footage. She’s also proposing big hikes in fees paid by commercial property developers that fund affordable housing and workforce training. (Boston Globe)

Easthampton city councilors raise concerns about the municipality’s decision to spend more than $18,000 from the cannabis stabilization fund on a party celebrating the opening of the $109 million Mountain View School. (Daily Hampshire Gazette)

A Globe editorial says it’s time to scrap Boston’s residency requirement for municipal workers.

HEALTH/HEALTH CARE

Blue Cross Blue Shield will begin paying providers who close racial health care disparities. (Boston Globe)

A new survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation reveals 35 percent of parents now oppose mandatory vaccinations for diseases such as mumps, rubella, and measles. (New York Times)

Massachusetts is opening 25 new community behavioral health centers that will provide 24/7 crisis intervention. (MassLive)

EDUCATION

Claudine Gay, the dean of Harvard’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences, was named the university’s next president,becoming the first Black person tapped for the role. (The Harvard Crimson)

A federal judge backs Ludlow schools in a lawsuit by parents over how the schools treated their transgender children. The parents sued the school for keeping the two middle school children’s new gender identities from their parents, at the children’s request. (MassLive)

Superintendent Mary Skipper pushed back against the suggestion by a city watchdog agency that there may have been improprieties in the recent bidding process for the Boston Public Schools bus contract. (Boston Herald)

TRANSPORTATION

Passengers may be suffering from sluggishly slow service on the MBTA’s Orange and Red lines, but the state Department of Public Utilities is calling out the agency for the opposite problem on the Green Line, saying “overspeeding” is a safety issue on the line that must be addressed. (Boston Herald)

ENERGY/ENVIRONMENT

Eversource is set to begin work on a controversial new electricity substation in East Boston and says the price tag has risen from $66 million to more than $100 million because of rising costs for labor and materials. (WBUR)

CRIMINAL JUSTICE/COURTS

The US Department of Justice is likely probing whether Worcester police officers sexually assaulted women engaged in prostitution. (Telegram & Gazette)

A jury found one defendant guilty of second-degree murder, a second of manslaughter, and a third of misleading police in connection with the fatal shooting of Asiyanna Jones five years ago. (Berkshire Eagle)

MEDIA

Linda Murphy will become the new editor of The Standard-Times and The Herald News, succeeding Lynne Sullivan. Murphy was previously a regional news editor at those South Coast papers. (Standard-Times)

Jim Braude ends his eight-year run as host of the TV show Greater Boston. (GBH)