It’s unclear how permissive the Land of Steady Habits is willing to be in gambling’s new digital age. The secondary question is how much of the action will be handled by Connecticut’s tribal casinos.
Foxwoods Resort Casino
Posted inMoney
Tribes reject Lamont’s grand bargain on gambling
The tribes won’t give up a planned casino in East Windsor, as requested by Gov. Ned Lamont. The next move is Lamont’s.
Posted inPolitics
Tribal ally tries to break stalemate over gambling expansion
A senator with many constituents employed by the tribal casinos made her move to nudge the governor into action on sports betting and casino expansion.
Posted inPolitics
Lamont seeks path around ‘legal mud’ of gambling wars
The drama over the expansion and control of legal gambling in Connecticut enters its fifth season, a convoluted story in search of an ending.
Posted inMoney
Legislators uncertain about legalizing sports betting before ’19
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy said Thursday his administration could have a proposal ready soon for legislative consideration on a new state system for managing and profiting from sports betting. Whether lawmakers will come back to consider it before the new legislature and governor take office in January are another matter.
Posted inMoney
Malloy to open sports betting talks with tribes
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy said Tuesday he will try to resolve who has rights to sports gambling — the tribal owners of the state’s two casinos, licensed off-track betting parlors or other vendors chosen by the state, or a mix of the two — before calling the General Assembly into special session to consider legalizing wagering on sports.
Posted inJustice
AG: Initial step to MGM casino would not jeopardize tribal deal
Attorney General George Jepsen advised legislators Thursday that the state could take a tentative step toward testing the market for opening Connecticut to commercial casinos without immediately jeopardizing $260 million in slots revenue the state expects to collect this year under an exclusivity deal with the tribal owners of Foxwoods Resort Casino and the Mohegan Sun.
Posted inPolitics
Legislators buck Senate co-chairs, keep casino expansion alive
An 11th-hour uprising by rank-and-file members of a legislative committee Thursday resurrected an issue that two Senate co-chairs seemed to have tabled for 2018: Should the state be opened to competition for a commercial casino in Bridgeport, as proposed by MGM Resorts International in its long war with two tribal competitors, the Mohegan Sun and Foxwoods?
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 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 inMoney, Politics
Legislators search for safest bet on casino expansion
Connecticut legislators weighing casino expansion face the same stomach-churning questions as any gambler confronting a big play: What is their tolerance for risk? What is the payout if they win? What are the consequences of a loss? What of doing nothing? And, perhaps, most importantly, do they even know the odds?
Posted inNews
With visit to Malloy, tribes renew push for I-91 casino bill in 2017
The Mashantucket Pequot and Mohegan tribal nations signaled Friday with a real-estate announcement and a visit to Gov. Dannel P. Malloy that they are ready to press for legislation authorizing a casino in East Windsor or Windsor Locks to compete with an MGM gambling resort under construction in Springfield.
Posted inPolitics
Tribes serve DNC breakfast and a case for casino expansion
PHILADELPHIA — Sen. Jon Tester, D-Montana had two reasons for being the featured speaker Tuesday at a Democratic National Convention breakfast sponsored by the owners of Connecticut’s two tribal casinos: He can help them in their fight with MGM Resorts International, and they can help him raise money to take back the Senate.
Posted inJustice, Money
Jepsen: Fantasy sports bill could jeopardize slots revenue
Attorney General George Jepsen warned legislators in a formal legal opinion Monday that passage of legislation regulating daily fantasy sports contests could jeopardize Connecticut’s revenue-sharing agreement with the tribal casinos.
Posted inNews
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.