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?
Mashantucket Pequots
Posted inPolitics
Legislator asks for independent analysis of casino expansion
Rep. Daniel S. Rovero, D-Killingly, said he arrived in Hartford for an all-day public hearing Thursday seeking clarity on the risks and benefits of granting the tribal owners of Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun the right to jointly develop a casino off tribal lands without considering other bidders. He left disappointed, unsure if the state was getting a good deal and unhappy the state was providing no independent analysis of casino expansion.
Posted inPolitics
Campaign for casino expansion approaches a crossroads
In a political consultant’s conference room on the 16th-floor of CityPlace II, an MGM Resorts International executive named Uri Clinton sipped a late-afternoon Starbucks coffee, still jet-lagged after his latest red-eye flight from Las Vegas to Hartford. In Clinton’s world, the action right now is in Connecticut’s capital.
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
CT GOP delegates, this meal is brought to you by…
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.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Saving jobs and protecting tourism is a winning combination for Connecticut
The recent groundbreaking for a casino just north of the Massachusetts border in Springfield promises to draw more customers from Connecticut than from their own region. Connecticut’s Mashantucket Pequot and Mohegan Tribes are working to remain competitive in this new environment with a strategically located, jointly run facility that will directly compete with new gaming options on our border. Last session, the Connecticut General Assembly allowed the tribes to work together and accept proposals from towns interested in hosting this new facility. The tribes have been good neighbors and friends to the state for 13 generations, and business partners for the past two decades. They are asking the state to support a plan to protect jobs, business and revenue. Doing so is a win-win for all.
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.
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, Politics
Tribes set to pitch legislature on new casino in ’16
Connecticut’s two tribal casinos staged a ceremony Thursday marking the start of a formal search for a community willing to accept a new gambling hall to maintain market share against competition coming to Massachusetts.
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.
Posted inPolitics
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 inPolitics
Study: I-91 casino best bet to keep gamblers in CT
A casino in the I-91 corridor north of Hartford could recapture nearly 53 percent of the Connecticut gambling dollars that otherwise would be lost to the MGM Springfield casino, according to a study released Thursday.
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 inCT Viewpoints
Let the Mashantucket Pequot and Mohegan tribes open satellite casinos
Today, we have two of the state’s largest employers and biggest tourist attractions willing to invest more than $300 million dollars in our state to protect 10,000 existing jobs. Connecticut, a state of 169 municipalities that have directly benefited from the billions of dollars in slot revenues contributed by the Tribes to the state’s coffers, can and must give the Mohegan and Mashantucket Pequot Tribes the ability to compete to protect their businesses. If Connecticut does not allow the tribes to take steps to protect their businesses and revenues, the state will lose thousands of additional jobs and hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue.
Posted inMoney, Politics
CT tribes rally to Malloy’s defense against Oklahoma tribal lenders
The leaders of Connecticut’s federally recognized Indian tribes rallied Monday to Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s defense, decrying the practice of an Oklahoma tribe and its business associates to make unlicensed, short-term loans here at astronomical rates.