CLEVELAND — The daily breakfast buffet for the Connecticut delegation to the Republican National Convention is courtesy of United Concrete Products of Wallingford, a state contractor. An afternoon cruise Wednesday aboard the Goodtime III was paid for by the Mashantucket Pequots and Mohegans, two tribes trying to win legislative approval to jointly develop their first casino off tribal land. But overall, sponsorships are down.
casino expansion
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Schaghticoke group planning bid for federal recognition – and a casino
WASHINGTON – The Schaghticoke Indian Tribe of Kent, one of two rival groups in Connecticut with the Schaghticoke name, is preparing to make a bid for federal recognition, according to a Bureau of Indian Affairs official and a tribal consultant. Recognition would open the door to federal aid and the right to open a casino on tribal land.
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Merrill to Schaghticokes: Our goof doesn’t get you a casino
Secretary of the State Denise Merrill formally notified the Schaghticoke Tribal Nation on Wednesday that her office’s mistaken acceptance of a business filing last month does not confer any right to develop a casino in Connecticut.
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Merrill: Schaghticoke casino ‘authorization’ was ‘error’
The secretary of the state’s office conceded Wednesday it erred in granting an authorization that flouted state law and allowed the Schaghticoke Tribal Nation to assert Tuesday night it could attempt to develop a casino in Connecticut.
Posted inMoney, Politics
Malloy ‘neither endorsing nor panning’ Bradley casino
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy had no opinion Wednesday on the Connecticut Airport Authority’s pitch to the Mashantucket Pequots and Mohegans to consider Bradley International Airport as a site for a jointly owned casino the tribes would like to develop as a hedge against competition in Springfield.
Posted inMoney
AG says MGM bluffing in the casino border war
Connecticut’s attorney general’s office asked a federal judge Wednesday to call what it suggests is a cheeky legal bluff by MGM Resorts International to protect the casino MGM is developing across the border in Springfield, Mass.
Posted inMoney, Politics
A tentative step toward casino expansion in Connecticut
The push by the Mashantucket Pequot and Mohegan tribal nations for casino expansion in Connecticut ended early Friday morning with final passage of a measure that represents more of a consolation prize than a victory.
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Jepsen declined to help tribes lobby feds on casino
The state attorney general’s office declined Tuesday to help the Mashantucket Pequot and Mohegan tribes ask the U.S. Department of the Interior for a statement supporting their bid for casino expansion in Connecticut.
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Strategic retreat: No final casino vote until 2016
Rather than authorize immediate construction of Connecticut’s first casino outside tribal lands, the state Senate is set to vote on a bill creating a complex approval process requiring passage of a second law next year.
Posted inMoney, Politics
Tribes see casino momentum outside Capitol
Mashantucket Pequot and Mohegan tribal leaders say the new interest by greater Hartford municipalities in hosting a casino should translate into momentum for their joint proposal at the General Assembly.
Posted inPolitics
Attorney General to legislators: Casino expansion poses legal risks
Attorney General George Jepsen warned top legislators Wednesday that legislation giving the Mashantucket Pequots and Mohegans exclusive rights to a new casino was itself a gamble, potentially endangering the current profit-sharing deal with the tribes and exposing the state to claims of illegal favoritism.
Posted inMoney, Politics
Study: Casino competition will cost CT 9,300 jobs
New casinos in New York and Massachusetts will siphon $703 million in annual revenue from Connecticut’s two tribal casinos by 2019, costing 9,300 residents their jobs and state government $100 million, according to an industry study.
Posted inPolitics
Connecticut’s unlikely history of casinos gets a new chapter
Failing to slam the door on casino gambling in 1991, Gov. Lowell P. Weicker Jr. cut the deal in 1993 that both gave the industry a foundation and firmly capped its reach in Connecticut — until now. Today, the legislature’s Public Safety and Security Committee holds a public hearing on what appears to be the strongest attempt in two decades to expand casino gambling off tribal lands.
Posted inMoney
Mohegan Sun interested in adding a gaming facility in Connecticut
The owners of the Mohegan Sun casino are interested in developing one or more new gaming facilities in Connecticut to keep customers being targeted by new casinos under development in Massachusetts. And while the Mohegan tribe hasn’t fully developed any proposal, or settled on any specific locations, it does believe its most aggressive new competitor lies in Springfield, Mass., where a new $800 million casino is being developed.