All sides say gaming deal fails without Foxwoods
A day after the governor and the Mohegan Tribal Nation reached an apparent deal on sports and online gaming, it became clear Wednesday that the agreement isn’t going anywhere without the Mashantucket Pequots.
A bipartisan group of 17 lawmakers from eastern Connecticut, led by the powerful senator whose district includes both tribes, announced opposition to the governor’s solo deal with the Mohegans if it excludes the Mashantucket Pequots.
Then, Gov. Ned Lamont’s lead negotiator, Chief of Staff Paul Mounds, admitted that it will take the cooperation of both tribes to finalize the lucrative gambling future in Connecticut.
And later still, the chairman of the Mohegan tribe issued a statement saying “all three governments need to be aligned to make these changes a reality.”
It remained unclear Wednesday evening whether the Mashantucket Pequot tribe, which owns and operates Foxwoods Resort Casino, was any closer to joining the deal, or reaching an amended agreement.
Mounds and that tribe’s chairman, Rodney Butler, had both said Tuesday they were close.
The state legislators, led by Sen. Cathy Osten, DSprague, the powerful cochairwoman of the budgetwriting Appropriations Committee, in a letter Wednesday to Lamont, called the agreement with the Mohegans “incomplete” and called for future talks with both tribes, with a Sunday deadline.
“Unless an agreement includes both tribes, the eastern Connecticut delegation simply cannot support it,” the group wrote. “We implore all three parties to come together and complete an agreement by Sunday March 7, 2021. We believe that is possible.”
Since an eventual deal on gambling expansion has to be voted upon in the General Assembly, the bipartisan opposition could by itself throw the governor’s proposal into jeopardy. Osten’s coalition succeeded in stopping a bid by MGM Resorts International in 2018 and 2019 to open up the gaming industry in Connecticut after MGM proposed a $675 million casino on Bridgeport Harbor.
The Mashantucket Pequots issued a statement late Tuesday saying a deal with only one tribe cannot exist. The tribes and the state work under federally approved compacts reached in the ‘90s and the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs must approve changes to those compacts.
Mounds issued a statement in which he agreed that both tribes “must be a party in any agreement” — and that the Mashantucket Pequots should join it.
Mounds added, “this agreement is best for the entire State of Connecticut, especially Eastern Connecticut, where the tribes employ thousands of people and contribute significantly to local economies and communities. This expansion of gaming in Connecticut is a financial benefit to both tribes and will provide long-term stability for both sovereign governments. Governor Ned Lamont is urging the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation to join this agreement immediately, and Eastern Connecticut legislators should do the same.”
By announcing a deal with the Mohegan tribe, Lamont and Mounds in effect forced the tribe that owns Foxwoods — which has seen sharp revenue declines due to the pandemic
— to act quickly. In a written statement, Mashantucket Pequot Chairman Rodney Butler said it was “offensive” for the state to announce a deal with just the Mohegans, indicating that the ploy was bad-faith bargaining.
On Wednesday afternoon, Mohegan Tribe Chairman James Gessner Jr. said the debate over sports gambling on online casino games have lingered for years without action.
“The Mohegan Tribe came to an agreement with Gov. Lamont because we felt that if we didn’t find compromise now, Connecticut would risk missing out
once again on making these changes, to the detriment of both the state and local municipal budgets, and also to the Mohegan Tribe and its tribal members,” Gessner said in a statement that was conciliatory to the Mashantucket Pequots.
“They have to go through their own process as a separate government, and we certainly recognize that all three governments need to be aligned to make these changes a reality,” Gessner said. “We will continue to communicate with them, and also with our great partners in the Southeastern delegation to the General Assembly, without whose steadfast support our collective progress to reach this point would never have been possible.”
Under the deal, announced Tuesday afternoon, the Mohegan tribe would hold the rights to online casino games played by people located in Connecticut, and sports betting, both online and at fixed locations. The state would charge a tax of 20 percent of revenues for online “iGaming,” and 13.75 percent of revenues for sports betting.
The CT Lottery Corp. would have the right to some online sports betting and 15 sports betting locations, which it could subcontract to Sportech, the company that runs parimutuel off-track betting locations in the state. Sportech opposed the deal Tuesday and said it could file a lawsuit to stop it.
The lawmakers noted that during a hearing on the future of gambling on Tuesday, Lamont advisers said the governor was close to a comprehensive agreement with both tribal nations, but closer with one than the other. Hours later, the agreement with the Mohegans alone was announced.