Backed by Gov. Ned Lamont, the once-troubled CT Lottery has a shot at online sales — and possibly more.
Mashantucket Pequot
Posted inMoney, Politics
Lamont edges close to deal on sports betting. Just don’t ask for odds.
Connecticut is close to a deal with the tribes over rights to sports betting.
Posted inJustice
Grand jury probes Zinke’s conduct on tribal casino petitions
Washington — A grand jury is investigating whether former Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke lied about how he handled Connecticut tribes’ gaming petitions.
Posted inMoney
Supreme Court prompts state to reconsider sports gambling
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Monday cleared the way for supporters of the legalization of sports betting in Connecticut to make another attempt to authorize this type of gambling in the state, prompting Gov. Dannel P. Malloy and House Speaker Joe Aresimowicz to say they would support a special legislative session to revisit the issue.
Posted inPolitics
Inspector General investigating Interior’s handling of CT tribes’ casino issue
The Interior Department’s official watchdog on Monday confirmed it is investigating why the agency rebuffed a request by Connecticut tribes to approve changes to its gaming compact needed to win state support for a new casino in East Windsor.
Posted inPolitics
Union election at Foxwoods as CT tribes push back against federal labor laws
WASHINGTON — More than 300 employees who clean the Mashantucket Pequot’s Foxwoods Resort Casino will decide on Friday if they want to unionize and reject tribal arguments against that idea. Meanwhile, Connecticut’s Pequot and Mohegan tribes are backing efforts to exempt their businesses from federal labor laws, a priority for the nation’s Indian tribes.
Posted inMoney
National Indian group urges Zinke to act on CT tribes’ casino issue
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.
Posted inEconomic Development, Politics
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.
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?
Posted inPolitics
Golden Hill Paugussetts say they will try for recognition again
WASHINGTON — The Golden Hill Paugussett tribe of Trumbull is preparing to seek federal recognition again, a classification that would bring the tribe special federal help and the right to open a casino and press land claims.
Posted inPolitics
Committee approves, yet doesn’t endorse, casino expansion bills
Proposals to expand casino gambling in Connecticut cleared the Public Safety and Security Committee on Wednesday in votes signifying a consensus that the bills were too big to die in committee, not a measure of the support for opening the state to commercial casinos off tribal tribal lands.
Posted inCities & Towns, Money
Jepsen sees ‘not insubstantial’ risk in casino expansion
Allowing Connecticut’s two federally recognized tribes to jointly operate a casino off tribal lands would pose legal risks that “are not insubstantial” to the more than $250 million in slots revenue annually shared with the state, Attorney General George Jepsen wrote Monday in a formal legal opinion.
Posted inPolitics
MGM uses Obama interior secretary to fight new tribal casino
Lobbyists for MGM Resorts International made a well-timed play Tuesday in their fight to stop a new tribal casino in Connecticut, delivering a warning from former Interior Secretary Kenneth Salazar that the proposal would jeopardize the state’s revenue-sharing agreement with the Mashantucket Pequots and Mohegans. The tribes dismissed Salazar as a paid consultant.
Posted inCities & Towns, Money, Politics
Tribes renew pitch for third casino, say they’ll name site in days
Updated at 2:45 p.m.
The tribes running the state’s two casinos will announce within days where in north-central Connecticut they want to build a satellite gaming facility, casino leaders announced Thursday.
Posted inPolitics
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.