Free Daily Headlines :

  • COVID-19
  • Vaccine Info
  • Money
  • Politics
  • Education
  • Health
  • Justice
  • More
    • Environment
    • Economic Development
    • Gaming
    • Investigations
    • Social Services
    • TRANSPORTATION
  • Opinion
    • CT Viewpoints
    • CT Artpoints
DONATE
Reflecting Connecticut’s Reality.
    COVID-19
    Vaccine Info
    Money
    Politics
    Education
    Health
    Justice
    More
    Environment
    Economic Development
    Gaming
    Investigations
    Social Services
    TRANSPORTATION
    Opinion
    CT Viewpoints
    CT Artpoints

LET�S GET SOCIAL

Show your love for great stories and out standing journalism

MGM uses McCain letter to fight Connecticut tribal casino

  • Politics
  • by Mark Pazniokas
  • May 10, 2017
  • View as "Clean Read" "Exit Clean Read"

Courtesy of Creative Commons

Sen. John McCain

MGM Resorts is using a new letter from U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., in its campaign to stop Connecticut’s two federally recognized tribes from opening a casino in East Windsor to compete with an MGM gambling resort under construction in Springfield.

In a letter dated Tuesday, McCain urged Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke to disavow an advisory letter the Mashantucket Pequot and Mohegan tribes obtained from the Obama administration indicating that their proposal would not jeopardize existing compacts with Connecticut.

The status of the compacts is a crucial factor in the casino debate, since MGM and other opponents argue that a new casino off tribal lands would jeopardize more than $260 million in annual revenue sharing the tribes now pay to Connecticut.

The tribes currently give the state 25 percent of gross slots revenue from their tribal casinos, Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun, in return for exclusive rights to slots and table games in Connecticut.

“The Tribes and the State of Connecticut believe that operating a joint gaming venture on off-reservation land, as sanctioned by state law, allows them to and skirt the existing legal framework for pursuing off-reservation gaming under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, (IGRA)” McCain wrote. “As a principal author of IGRA, I have grave objections about the previous Administration’s apparent circumvention of over 25 years of Indian gaming law.”

McCain asked Zinke not to “make the same mistake as the previous Administration and avoid issuing a technical assistance letter that would assist in an unprecedented expansion of off-reservation gambling.”

McCain’s letter mischaracterizes the tribes’ proposal for a facility near the Massachusetts line as allowing them to “open an off-reservation casino near the Connecticut-New York border just a few miles from New York City.”

The tribes called the letter “an eleventh-hour tactic by MGM to stall our growing momentum,” both in Hartford and in working with the Bureau of Indian Affairs in the Department of the Interior.

“It’s clear MGM owes an apology … to Senator McCain. They purposely gave him bad information, which makes sense considering they’ve been doing the same with Connecticut’s elected leaders for months,” the tribes said.

Uri CLinton, the MGM vice president who has been leading the lobbying effort against the tribes, said his company did not influence McCain. It reflected his knowledge of Indian gaming law and his own concerns, Clinton said.

“Nobody’s telling McCain what to do. He wrote IGRA,” Clinton said.

Julie Tarallo, a spokeswoman for McCain, did not respond to the question of whether MGM sought his letter, instead describing the senator as having “a long history of Vegas-style Indian gaming operations on land not contiguous to tribal reservations.”

“Just last year, Senator McCain cosponsored legislation that would effectively block an Arizona tribe from opening an Indian casino in the noncontiguous city of Glendale, Arizona,” she said in an email. “Similarly, with the Connecticut legislature expected to advance legislation amending the state’s compact, Senator McCain sent a letter encouraging the Department of the Interior not to misapply its technical assistance services in the same way the previous administration did.”

Clinton said he did obtain the letter from McCain’s office and gave it to Global Strategy, one of the firms representing MGM in Connecticut. Global provided a copy to the office of Connecticut Attorney General George Jepsen, which has been asked to judge the legal risks of allowing the tribes to jointly develop a commercial casino.

The tribes currently give the state 25 percent of gross slots revenue from their tribal casinos, Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun, in return for exclusive rights to slots and table games in Connecticut.

Sign up for CT Mirror's free daily news summary.

Free to Read. Not Free to Produce.

The Connecticut Mirror is a nonprofit newsroom. 90% of our revenue comes from people like you. If you value our reporting please consider making a donation. You'll enjoy reading CT Mirror even more knowing you helped make it happen.

YES, I'LL DONATE TODAY

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Mark Pazniokas is the Capitol Bureau Chief and a co-founder of CT Mirror. He is a frequent contributor to WNPR, a former state politics writer for The Hartford Courant and Journal Inquirer, and contributor for The New York Times.

SEE WHAT READERS SAID

RELATED STORIES
Connecticut House joins national civil rights campaign over Black hair styles
by Mark Pazniokas

The Connecticut House voted for a bill intended to protect Black women from discrimination over their hair.

CT legislature poised to make early budget pledge to help cities and towns
by Keith M. Phaneuf

The state House is expected to approve more than $100 million in new, annual PILOT grants to municipalities.

Connecticut GOP picks Susan Hatfield as state chair
by Mark Pazniokas

Susan Hatfield, vice chair of the Connecticut Republican Party, will complete the term of the former chair, J.R. Romano.

Senator alleges voter fraud, but no complaint was filed
by Mark Pazniokas

Rob Sampson said a voter in his district was told an absentee ballot already had been cast in her name.

Boston Fed chief predicts strong economic recovery begins in 2nd half of 2021 if vaccine reaches enough people
by Keith M. Phaneuf

A strong economic rebound also depends on states helping those hit hardest by COVID-19, a federal reserve official said.

Support Our Work

Show your love for great stories and outstanding journalism.

$
Select One
  • Monthly
  • Yearly
  • Once
Artpoint painter
CT ViewpointsCT Artpoints
Opinion Gas pipeline will threaten water quality, wildlife and wetlands
by Susan Eastwood

The Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection has granted tentative approval of the 401 water quality certification for the Pomfret to Killingly natural gas pipeline. I urge DEEP to deny the 401 certification, as the proposed pipeline would violate the Connecticut’s water quality standards, and the conditions in the draft certification fail to protect our streams, wetlands, and wildlife.

Opinion Connecticut and the other Connecticut. Which will endure?
by Ezra Kaprov

What comes to mind when you hear the word ‘Connecticut’? Possibly, you think of a 43-year-old Puerto Rican man who arrived here with his family following Hurricane Maria. He works full-time as a machinist at the Sikorsky plant, and he coaches a prizefighter on the side.

Opinion COVID-19 increases urgency for legislature to pass medical aid-in-dying law
by Dr. Gary Blick

The COVID-19 crisis has exposed the profound tragedy of loved ones dying alone, in a hospital or nursing home, without the care and comfort of loved ones surrounding them. This pandemic also demonstrates the fragility of life, the limits of modern medicine to relieve suffering, and has magnified the systemic racial disparities in our healthcare system, resulting in higher hospitalization and death rates for people in communities of color. We must eradicate these disparities, so everyone has equal access to the full range of end-of-life care options.

Opinion Three fallacies and the truth about vaccines
by Kerri M. Raissian, Ph.D. and Dr. Jody Terranova

Connecticut’s Public Health Committee recently heard public testimony regarding HB6423 and SB568 --  bills that would remove the religious exemption (the medical exemption would rightfully remain in place) from vaccination in order to attend school.  The religious exemption allows parents to effectively opt their children out of vaccines. In doing so, these families can still send their children to Connecticut’s schools, daycares, colleges, and camps.  This places other children at risk of contracting vaccine-preventable illnesses, and it is imperative the Connecticut legislature remove this exception.

Artwork Grand guidance
by Anne:Gogh

In a world of systemic oppression aimed towards those of darker skintones – representation matters. We are more than our equity elusive environments, more than numbers in a prison and much more than victims of societal dispositions. This piece depicts a melanated young man draped in a cape ascending high above multiple forms of oppression. […]

Artwork Shea
by Anthony Valentine

Shea is a story about race and social inequalities that plague America. It is a narrative that prompts the question, “Do you know what it’s like to wake up in new skin?”

Artwork The Declaration of Human Rights
by Andres Chaparro

Through my artwork I strive to create an example of ideas that reflect my desire to raise social consciousness, and cultural awareness. Jazz music is the catalyst to all my work, and plays a major influence in each piece of work.”

Artwork ‘A thing of beauty. Destroy it forever’
by Richard DiCarlo | Derby

During times like these it’s often fun to revisit something familiar and approach things with a different slant. I have been taking some Pop culture and Art masterpieces and applying the vintage 1960’s and 70’s classic figures (Fisher Price, little people) to the make an amusing pieces. Here is my homage to Fisher -Price, Yellow […]

Twitter Feed
A Twitter List by CTMirror

Engage

  • Reflections Tickets & Sponsorships
  • Events
  • Donate
  • Newsletter Sign-Up
  • Submit to Viewpoints
  • Submit to ArtPoints
  • Economic Indicator Dashboard
  • Speaking Engagements
  • Commenting Guidelines
  • Legal Notices
  • Contact Us

About

  • About CT Mirror
  • Announcements
  • Board
  • Staff
  • Sponsors and Funders
  • Donors
  • Friends of CT Mirror
  • History
  • Financial
  • Policies
  • Strategic Plan

Opportunity

  • Advertising and Sponsorship
  • Speaking Engagements
  • Use of Photography
  • Work for Us

Go Deeper

  • Steady Habits Podcast
  • Economic Indicator Dashboard
  • Five Things

The Connecticut News Project, Inc. 1049 Asylum Avenue, Hartford, CT 06105. Phone: 860-218-6380

© Copyright 2021, The Connecticut News Project. All Rights Reserved. Website by Web Publisher PRO