Gov. Dannel Malloy signed into law a bill which authorized a third casino in Connecticut. The site’s developers want to begin work immediately.
Kevin Brown, Chairman of the Mohegan Tribal Nation which owns Mohegan Sun, said only minor obstacles stand in the way of construction. The bill Gov. Malloy signed on Thursday authorizes a casino in East Windsor, which is a suburb of Hartford.
Kevin Brown told NBC Connecticut, “We’ve been waiting for this day for a long time.”
The tribes which own Mohegan Sun and Foxwoods Casino, which have been rivals for decades, have agreed to a joint venture to build the East Windsor casino. Kevin Brown and Rodney Butler of Foxwoods (both pictured right) attended the bill-signing ceremony and gave each other a warm handshake — something which might have been unthinkable 10 years ago.
Connecticut Satellite Casino Plan
The signing came two years after the Mohegan Tribe and the Mashantucket Pequot (Foxwoods) Tribe first began discussions for a Hartford-area satellite casino. The impetus for the satellite casino was the announcement that MGM Resorts, a major Las Vegas casino company, would build a $900 million casino-resort in nearby Springfield.
When the MGM Springfield opens in 2018, the two Connecticut gaming tribes grew concerned that Hartford-area gamblers would travel a half-hour to MGM’s casino, because Mohegan Sun and Foxwoods are across the state. The Connecticut General Assembly passed a casino bill earlier in July, but the final details had to be worked out among the parties.
Dan Malloy’s Support for East Windsor Casino
Governor Dan Malloy did not commit to the plan until relatively late in the process. For a time, MGM Resorts was pressing for an open casino application process. MGM Resorts even filed a lawsuit, stating their application for a casino license in Bridgeport was summarily and perhaps illegally rejected without a hearing.
Recently, the governor came down decisively on the side of the Connecticut tribes. Upon signing the bill to authorize the third casino Thursday, Gov. Malloy stated, “Let there be no doubt that Massachusetts made a decision to do whatever they could to get as much gaming out of Connecticut and into their state and this was an appropriate response to what Massachusetts has done and quite frankly what other states have done.”
Widespread Support for Third Casino
Over the last months, a coalition of tribal leaders, labor unions, and construction groups fought on behalf of the third casino. They argued that a satellite casino would create thousands of temporary construction and permanent casino jobs, while also keeping hundreds of millions of dollars in the state.
The MGM Resorts lawsuit slowed down the process some, but the lawsuit eventually was rejected by a New York State judge. A movement by suburban Hartford residents to open-up the licensing process also complicated matters, though the eventual bill included compensation for local “distressed cities“ which might have traffic disruption and higher infrastructure costs, due to the diversion of traffic towards the East Windsor casino.
Governor Protects Connecticut Jobs
Gov. Malloy said the relationship the state has built with the Mohegan and Mashantucket Pequot tribes over the years was key to his decision. The two tribes have paid billions of dollars in taxes over the past 25 years of operation.
Malloy said he wanted to protect the state’s existing casino industry. He added, “This is worth fighting for. This is worth protecting and quite frankly its worth keeping Connecticut dollars spent in Connecticut as opposed to going up 91 and being spent someplace else.”
Approval from Bureau of Indians Affairs
For the process to move forward, two more steps must be taken. First, the state must approve the amendment with the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), which is a bureaucratic matter. Second, the Bureau of Indian Affairs must sign-off on the project. Since the 19th century, the Ministry of the Interior’s Bureau of Indian Affairs has overseen the United States federal government’s interactions with the Native American tribes. That includes tribal gaming affairs.
Also, the Showcase Cinema in East Windsor needs to be demolished before construction on the casino can begin. Kevin Brown predicted that neither the Bureau of Indians Affairs or the Showcase Cinema would be much of a problem.
With his usual confidence, Kevin Brown said, “Yes, BIA is going to say OK, yes we’re going to demolish the movie theater and yes we have a schedule for all of that.”
