The aims of the new suit by MGM are broader than stopping a competing tribal casino in East Windsor: It questions their ability to conduct any off-reservation gambling in Connecticut.
MGM Resorts International
Posted inPolitics
Administration says Ganim’s casino pitch ‘a really bad deal’
Forget a casino deal for Bridgeport on the final day of 2019 session. But in a special session? Stay tuned.
Posted inPolitics
Ganim pitches sweet deal for tribes to open Bridgeport casino
Mayor Joe Ganim wants $100 million in public financing and exclusive online gambling rights for the tribes if they bring a casino to Bridgeport.
Posted inJustice
New AG opinion a blow to tribes’ East Windsor casino
Attorney General George Jepsen strongly warned the legislature Tuesday against allowing the Mashantucket Pequot and Mohegan tribes to jointly develop a casino in East Windsor without the approval of the U.S. Interior Department, a condition of the 2017 law permitting the project to compete with MGM Springfield. The opinion is likely to be the final blow in this legislative session to any hopes by the tribes to circumvent the requirement for Interior Department approval.
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
Connecticut lawmakers seek investigation of casino lobbying
Connecticut’s U.S. senators and two of its congressmen asked Monday that the inspector general of the Department of the Interior investigate the department’s role in blocking the Mashantucket Pequot and Mohegan tribes from jointly developing a commercial casino in East Windsor to compete with an MGM gaming resort under construction in Springfield.
Posted inJustice
Interior Department seeks dismissal of CT gaming lawsuit
The U.S. Interior Department told a federal court Monday that Connecticut’s refusal to negotiate a gaming compact with the Mashantucket Pequots nearly 30 years ago creates a fatal flaw in the state’s legal efforts today to help the Pequot and Mohegan tribes compete with MGM Resorts International.
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, tribes open new fight over casino expansion in Connecticut
TRUMBULL — The chief executive officer of MGM Resorts International courted a business audience Tuesday night, asking them to join him in lobbying the General Assembly next year for legislation ending the gaming monopoly enjoyed by two Indian tribes and allowing MGM to provide Bridgeport with the “life-changing opportunity” of a waterfront casino.
Posted inEconomic Development, Politics
Tribes’ lawyers tell Interior it must accept casino deal
Two national law firms representing the Mashantucket Pequot and Mohegan tribal nations pressed the federal government Tuesday with a letter insisting the Interior secretary has no choice but to approve their gaming agreements with Connecticut and clear the way for them to jointly develop a commercial casino in East Windsor.
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 inPolitics
Connecticut moves closer to construction of a third casino
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy and tribal leaders signed documents Thursday amending Connecticut’s relationship with its two federally recognized tribes, another step toward allowing them to jointly develop a casino in the Hartford suburb of East Windsor, as authorized in legislation approved last month by the General Assembly.
Posted inJustice
Connecticut wins early round in casino court fight with MGM
A federal appeals court Wednesday ruled against MGM Resorts International, the owner of a casino under construction in Springfield, in the first round of what is expected to be a protracted legal fight to stop Connecticut from allowing a competing casino in East Windsor.
Posted inPolitics
Mohegans play host to tribes, Interior secretary at pivotal time
UNCASVILLE — Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, the face of a Trump administration whose approach to the federal budget and its oversight of Indian country is skeptically viewed by many tribes, was welcomed here Tuesday by Connecticut’s two federally recognized tribes as an ally in their casino fight with MGM Resorts International.