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

Tribes win casino fight in Senate, face battle in House

  • Politics
  • by Mark Pazniokas
  • May 24, 2017
  • View as "Clean Read" "Exit Clean Read"

mark pazniokas

Sen. Tim Larson, the bill’s sponsor, answering Sen. Len Suzio.

The Mashantucket Pequot and Mohegan tribes won the first half of their home-court fight with MGM Resorts International over the rights to gaming expansion in Connecticut as the Senate voted 24-12 early Wednesday for a bill authorizing the tribes to jointly develop the state’s first casino off tribal lands.

The bill that now goes to an uncertain fate in the House of Representatives would allow the tribes to build a casino off I-91 in East Windsor in an effort to blunt the loss of gambling dollars to Massachusetts once MGM opens a gambling resort under construction in Springfield.

“We did what we had to do. We stood up for Connecticut workers,” Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff, D-Norwalk, said shortly before the final vote at 12:35 a.m.

The Senate unexpectedly took up the bill shortly before 10 p.m. Tuesday, a day when MGM intensified its opposition, buying $400,000 in television time to air a commercial saying the state would be forgoing millions of dollars in license fees and other revenue if it cut a no-bid deal with the owners of the tribal casinos.

mark pazniokas :: ctmirror.org

Uri Clinton of MGM, at left, with two of his lobbyists, Paul Nuñez and, at far right, Jane Murphy.

The tribes would pay no licensing fee under the bill approved Wednesday, only an annual tax equal to 25 percent of gross revenues from table games and slots. The first $4.5 million in slots revenue would be set aside for annual grants of $750,000 to each of six communities: Hartford, East Hartford, Ellington, Enfield, South Windsor and Windsor Locks.

East Windsor struck a separate deal with the tribes, who say they would pay the town about $8.5 million annually in property taxes and mitigation fees.

Uri Clinton, a senior vice president and legal counsel of MGM Resorts, said his company will press its case in the House, where Democrats have suggested they are seeking $100 million from casino expansion, that Connecticut can do better.

“I think in the middle of a budget crisis, the Senate just took a step to give away a privileged license worth over $100 million,” Clinton said in an interview after the vote. “I think there are people who are very smart in the House who understand the budget crisis. I think as it becomes part of the budget debate, additional options might show up.”

Sen. Douglas McCrory, D-Hartford, dismissed the $750,000 grant as a token payment to a distressed capital city that is considering bankruptcy. He equated the money with giving his constituents a few fish, not the ability to catch them. Sen. John Fonfara, D-Hartford, also opposed passage.

Watching from the gallery was Marc DiBella, the city’s Democratic chairman and one of the lobbyists hired by MMCT, the joint venture of the tribes.

With an eye on tapping the lucrative New York City market, MGM is pushing a bill that would create an open competition for the right to develop a casino resort in lower Fairfield County, a measure opposed by Gov. Dannel P. Malloy as a threat to a revenue-sharing deal worth about $260 million annually.

In return for the exclusive rights to gaming in Connecticut, the tribes now pay the state 25 percent of the gross slots revenue generated at their Foxwoods Resort and Mohegan Sun casinos, generating $7 billion for the state since 1993. From a high of $430 million in 2007, the slots revenue has dropped each year in the face of growing competition in New York, Massachusetts and Rhode Island.

Sen. Cathy Osten, D-Sprague, whose eastern Connecticut district is home to both tribal casinos, said the tribes deserved the state’s help.

“There are 140 towns in this state that send residents to southeastern Connecticut every day to work at one of the two casinos there,” Osten said. “This is a Connecticut jobs bill, one that protects jobs for middle-class workers, our neighbors, our friends and our family.”

The tribes issued a statement thanking the Senate — and reminding the House that the Bureau of Indian Affairs recently affirmed that granting them a commercial license would not jeopardize their existing arrangement with the state.

“Today, the Senate took us one step closer to saving more than 9,000 jobs and millions in state tax revenue,” said Rodney Butler, tribal chairman of the Mashantucket Pequots. “With the reconfirmation from the BIA in hand, we’re increasingly optimistic that our state’s leaders will rally around our employees like they’ve done for Sikorsky and Pratt & Whitney.”

The governor said Friday in an interview with CT Mirror that he was neutral on the question of whether to expand, but if legislators were to permit the state’s first casino off tribal lands, they should respect the state’s long-standing exclusivity agreement with the Mashantucket Pequot and Mohegan tribal nations.

“I will not sign a transaction or bill that puts into real danger our existing arrangement with the tribal nations, nor would anyone in this building who thought about it,” Malloy said. “And I’m not sure we’ve had that clear, crisp discussion.”

mark pazniokas :: ctmirror.org

Sen. Cathy Osten, a co-sponsor of the bill, as the debate began. Both tribal casinos are in her district.

The governor’s spokeswoman, Kelly Donnelly, reiterated Wednesday that Malloy’s position is firm.

“Gov. Malloy believes that, on the question of casino expansion, the legislature should remain focused on maintaining the state’s longstanding partnership with the Mohegan and Mashantucket Pequot tribal nations and protecting jobs,” Donnelly said. “The casinos operated by these tribal nations employ thousands of Connecticut residents and are an integral part of our local economy — the governor will not sign a bill that puts those jobs at risk.”

The Senate vote and Malloy’s implied threat of a veto dim the possibility of MGM winning passage of an open-competition bill, but there is a third possibility: Allow no casino expansion, an option favored by opponents of gambling and the operators of off-track betting parlors.

Attorney General George Jepsen has raised two legal issues about a deal with the tribes: One, that the Bureau of Indian Affairs could negate the exclusivity agreement, a possibility the bureau recently downplayed; and two, giving the tribes the right to a commercial casino without competition could violate the equal protection and commerce clauses of the constitution.

Shortly before debate began, the governor’s chief of staff, Brian Durand, conferred with Vinnie Mauro, the Senate Democrats’ chief of staff, outside the Senate chamber. Twenty steps away, four MGM lobbyists surrounded Sen. Eric Berthel, R-Watertown.

The bill was called. In the chamber, Sen. Tim Larson, D-East Hartford, rose to explain a master amendment co-sponsored in the Senate by three Democrats and three Republicans.

Lobbyists filed into the gallery to watch, as did Clinton, the MGM executive who has commuted regularly from Las Vegas to Hartford on red-eye flights to urge passage of an open-competition bill.

Clinton and one of his lobbyists, Jane Murphy, left during the debate to answer a question from Sen. George S. Logan, R-Ansonia. Clinton and Logan conferred near an elevator bank.

Logan voted for passage. Berthel voted against.

After the vote, Larson defended the Senate for not insisting on a licensing fee from the tribes, saying the goal of the bill was to stabilize the existing revenue-sharing deal with the state.

“These guys, frankly, have been good business partners,” Larson said. “To go in and try to lean on them would have been irresponsible.”

A majority of each party was in favor: Democrats voted 14-4; Republicans voted 10-8.

The Vote for Casino Expansion
Senate Bill 957 would the state’s two federally recognized tribes to jointly develop a casino in East Windsor.
District Senator Party Vote
1 John Fonfara Democrat No
2 Douglas McCrory Democrat No
3 Tim Larson Democrat Yes
4 Steve Cassano Democrat Yes
5 Beth Bye Democrat No
6 Terry Gerratana Democrat Yes
7 John Kissel Republican No
8 Kevin Witkos Republican Yes
9 Paul Doyle Democrat Yes
10 Gary Winfield Democrat Yes
11 Martin Looney Democrat Yes
12 Ted Kennedy Democrat Yes
13 Len Suzio Republican Yes
14 Gayle Slossberg Democrat Yes
15 Joan Hartley Democrat Yes
16 Joe Markley Republican No
17 George Logan Republican Yes
18 Heather Bond Republican Yes
19 Catherine Osten Democrat Yes
20 Paul Formica Republican Yes
21 Kevin Kelly Republican Yes
22 Marilyn Moore Democrat Yes
23 Edwin Gomes Democrat Yes
24 Michael McLachlan Republican Yes
25 Bob Duff Democrat Yes
26 Toni Boucher Republican No
27 Carlo Leone Democrat Yes
28 Tony Hwang Republican No
29 Mae Flexer Democrat No
30 Craig Miner Republican No
31 Henri Martin Republican Yes
32 Eric Berthel Republican No
33 Art Linares Republican Yes
34 Len Fasano Republican Yes
35 Anthony Guglielmo Republican No
36 Scott Frantz Republican No

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
With billions in federal relief on the way to CT, legislators assert their role in deciding how to spend it
by Keith M. Phaneuf and Mark Pazniokas

With an unusual bill, state legislators are reminding Gov. Ned Lamont they have significant role in disbursing federal coronavirus relief.

Rep. Patricia Billie Miller wins vacant Senate seat
by Mark Pazniokas

Rep. Patricia Billie Miller, D-Stamford, won a special election to the state Senate.

Final passage of ‘Crown Act’ comes on unanimous vote
by Mark Pazniokas

With a unanimous vote, Connecticut became the latest state to adopt legislation prohibiting discrimination based on hairstyles associated with race.

Senate confirms Miguel Cardona as U.S. Secretary of Education
by Adria Watson

Cardona was the youngest principal in the state of Connecticut.

Nora Dannehy named top legal aide to Lamont
by Mark Pazniokas

The hiring of Nora Dannehy brings a high-profile legal talent into Lamont's office at the mid-point of his four-year term.

Support Our Work

Show your love for great stories and outstanding journalism.

$
Select One
  • Monthly
  • Yearly
  • Once
Artpoint painter
CT ViewpointsCT Artpoints
Opinion The public health bill no one is talking about, but should be
by Brian Festa

On February 16,  the legislature's Public Health Committee conducted a public hearing on two bills, S.B. 568 and H.B. 6423, both of which would eliminate the religious exemption to mandatory vaccinations for Connecticut schoolchildren.  The hearing was capped at 24 hours, depriving nearly 1,500 members of the public who had registered for the hearing their opportunity to be heard.  The vast majority of those who did testify, and who submitted written testimony, opposed the bill.  The committee is expected to vote on the bill as early as  today. 

Opinion Students need more resources, fewer officers
by Tenille Bonilla

"School resource officer" is just a nice way to say cop. But what students really need is more resource and less officer.

Opinion The Board of Regents’ changes must not shortchange its students or faculty
by Carrie Andreoletti, PhD

As a university professor and a lifespan developmental psychologist, I tend to approach my work from a developmental perspective. This means I aim to foster a lifelong love of learning and to help others find a sense of meaning and purpose, as well as confidence in their ability to reach their goals. My approach to higher education is shaped by my desire to provide the best possible education for my students. This is why the recent Board of Regents’ proposed changes at the four state universities have me worried.

Opinion How to close schooling opportunity gaps created by the pandemic
by Carol Gale

We ask school district leaders to trust your public servants whose daily work life involves assessing student needs and planning or modifying instruction to meet those needs. Listen to their voices, as we have, and allocate precious resources on interventions that will offer increased opportunities for Hartford students to succeed.

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