Connecticut’s U.S. senators and two of its congressmen asked Monday that the inspector general of the Department of the Interior investigate the department’s role in blocking the Mashantucket Pequot and Mohegan tribes from jointly developing a commercial casino in East Windsor to compete with an MGM gaming resort under construction in Springfield.
casino expansion
Posted inJustice
Interior Department seeks dismissal of CT gaming lawsuit
The U.S. Interior Department told a federal court Monday that Connecticut’s refusal to negotiate a gaming compact with the Mashantucket Pequots nearly 30 years ago creates a fatal flaw in the state’s legal efforts today to help the Pequot and Mohegan tribes compete with MGM Resorts International.
Posted inPolitics
MGM spends $3.8M lobbying in Hartford, but wins in Washington
MGM Resorts International spent $3.8 million on lobbying in Connecticut last year, more than three times any other interest group, in a vain attempt to stop the General Assembly from authorizing its tribal competitors to build a casino in competition with MGM Springfield. But MGM had another card to play — a friendly relationship with the Trump administration and its Interior secretary, Ryan Zinke.
Posted inPolitics
Tribes counter MGM, hinting at their bid for new casinos
The tribal owners of the Foxwoods Resorts and Mohegan Sun casinos sent legislative leaders a letter Wednesday asking for a chance to compete with MGM Resorts International’s proposal for a Bridgeport gambling resort if the legislature is intent next year on considering opening Connecticut to casino expansion. But they seem interested in exclusive right, not a competition.
Posted inMoney, Politics
MGM, tribes open new fight over casino expansion in Connecticut
TRUMBULL — The chief executive officer of MGM Resorts International courted a business audience Tuesday night, asking them to join him in lobbying the General Assembly next year for legislation ending the gaming monopoly enjoyed by two Indian tribes and allowing MGM to provide Bridgeport with the “life-changing opportunity” of a waterfront casino.
Posted inNews
Connecticut, tribes sue feds to break deadlock on third casino
Backed by the administration of Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, the Mashantucket Pequot and Mohegan tribal nations filed a lawsuit Wednesday to force Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke to approve their gaming agreements with Connecticut and clear the way for them to jointly develop a commercial casino in East Windsor.
Posted inEconomic Development, Politics
Tribes’ lawyers tell Interior it must accept casino deal
Two national law firms representing the Mashantucket Pequot and Mohegan tribal nations pressed the federal government Tuesday with a letter insisting the Interior secretary has no choice but to approve their gaming agreements with Connecticut and clear the way for them to jointly develop a commercial casino in East Windsor.
Posted inMoney, Politics
MGM pitches Bridgeport casino as feds delay tribes’ expansion
MGM Resorts International launched a glitzy new campaign Monday to expand into Connecticut, an effort that curiously coincides with the Trump administration, at least temporarily, halting the state’s two federally recognized tribes’ from building a casino in East Windsor to compete with a new MGM resort in Springfield, Mass. MGM is backed by mayors of New Haven and Bridgeport.
Posted inPolitics
Connecticut moves closer to construction of a third casino
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy and tribal leaders signed documents Thursday amending Connecticut’s relationship with its two federally recognized tribes, another step toward allowing them to jointly develop a casino in the Hartford suburb of East Windsor, as authorized in legislation approved last month by the General Assembly.
Posted inPolitics
No surprise as Malloy signs bill allowing third casino
It was pretty much a sure thing: Gov. Dannel P. Malloy on Tuesday signed a bill that authorizes the Mashantucket Pequot and Mohegan tribal nations to jointly develop a casino in East Windsor to compete with an MGM Resorts facility under construction in Springfield.
Posted inJustice
Connecticut wins early round in casino court fight with MGM
A federal appeals court Wednesday ruled against MGM Resorts International, the owner of a casino under construction in Springfield, in the first round of what is expected to be a protracted legal fight to stop Connecticut from allowing a competing casino in East Windsor.
Posted inMoney
A British bet on OTB in Connecticut’s roiled gambling market
STAMFORD — Ted Taylor settled onto an upholstered leather bench in an unfinished booth at the new Bobby Valentine’s restaurant and sports bar, the Connecticut Gold Coast’s introduction to a plusher version of what’s been a shrinking, down-market gambling niche — off-tracking betting. His company, Sportech, is investing in a gambling market under pressure from increased competition both in and outside the state.
Posted inMoney, Politics
House votes for final approval of tribes’ casino in East Windsor
The Mashantucket Pequot and Mohegan tribal nations crossed the finish line Wednesday on the last day of the General Assembly’s annual session, victors in a two-year struggle for authorization to jointly develop a casino to compete with the MGM Resorts International casino under construction in Springfield.
Posted inPolitics
Deal is struck: House to authorize tribes’ East Windsor casino
The Senate’s approval of a little-noticed mixed-martial arts bill Tuesday evening was the signal: A deal has been struck for the House of Representatives to vote in the waning hours of the 2017 to authorize the owners of Connecticut’s tribal gaming resorts to develop a casino in East Windsor.
Posted inPolitics
Hartford’s 11th-hour casino game is ‘Let’s Make a Deal’
The Connecticut legislature’s long debate about the implications of expanding casino gambling has come down to a stark question of transactional politics: What do a relative handful of urban Democratic legislators want in return for allowing the Mashantucket Pequots and Mohegans to jointly develop the state’s third casino, its first off tribal lands?