WASHINGTON — The National Congress of American Indians came to the support of Connecticut’s Mohegan and Mashantucket Pequot tribes Thursday, urging Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke to approve a change in their gaming compacts that would clear the way for the tribes to operate a new casino in East Windsor.
Indian gaming
New CT casino falls prey to lobbying blitz and Trump policy
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Interior Department’s failure to act on provisions that would allow the Mashantucket Pequot and Mohegan tribes to open a new casino in East Windsor came after a vigorous lobbying campaign by competitor MGM Resorts International and a change in Indian gaming policy in the Trump administration.
MGM stalled in effort to block new Indian casino in CT
WASHINGTON — MGM Resorts International’s efforts to block the establishment of a third casino run by Connecticut’s gaming tribes has stalled on Capitol Hill, leaving the future of the effort in doubt.
Connecticut tribe says it has made federal bid, hopes for casino
WASHINGTON — The Schaghticoke Indian Tribe of Kent says it filed a voluminous petition for federal recognition with the Bureau of Indian Affairs, a bid it hopes will result in the rights to open a casino in the Danbury area. But Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., who has fought efforts by tribes to win acknowledgement, called the effort “frivolous.”
Schaghticoke hire Lieberman to help sue state over casino law
The Schaghicoke Tribal Nation has hired former Sen. Joe Lieberman – who once fought against the tribe’s efforts to win federal recognition — to help them sue the state over a gambling law that allows only the state’s two gaming tribes to open a new casino. In their legal challenge, the Schaghticokes’ have joined forces with MGM, which has also been blocked from building a casino in Connecticut.
Connecticut officials lead charge against federal plan for Indians
Updated, 1:15 p.m. Washington – Connecticut officials are bracing for new Indian recognition rules that could upend the state’s gaming agreement with the Mashantucket Pequot and the Mohegan, takes swaths of land out of the state tax base and likely result in new casinos.