Butler: Gaming deal ‘opened up wounds’ dating to 1600s

Pequot tribe left out of announcement as negotiations continue

The announcement Tuesday of a gambling overhaul in Connecticut agreed to by Gov. Ned Lamont and the Mohegan Tribe that failed to mention the Mashantucket Pequots nearly derailed negotiations, said Rodney Butler, chairmanof the Mashantucket Pequots.

“I can’t describe what a setback and insult Tuesday was. It almost killed the deal,” he said in an interview Thursday.

Butler was particularly incensed at his fellow Native Americans, citing the Pequot War in the 1630s against the Pequots by English settlers and their indigenous allies that included the Mohegans. “It opened up wounds between our tribal nations that go back centuries,” he said.

James Gessner Jr., chairman

of the Mohegan Tribe, which owns the Mohegan Sun, said in an email tribal members value their relationship with their “fellow sovereign tribal nation, the Mashantucket Pequots.”

“The roots of that generational relationship run far deeper than the nuances of any business decisions we each make relating to our commercial enterprises,” he said.

Gessner called the deal with the Lamont administration to authorize sports betting and online gambling a “fair agreement, one that would keep Connecticut and its gaming industry competitive.”

Before the announcement was released Tuesday, Butler told reporters the Mashantucket Pequots, which owns Foxwoods Resort Casino, were in solidarity with their “Mohegan cousins.”

Two days later, he said administration negotiators “gave the wrong impression that a deal was done.”

Lamont said he released details in response to questions about the agreement.

Asked Thursday at a news conference if he regretted releasing the announcement without Mashantucket support, he said, “No. The people were saying what are the terms of the agreement?”

The governor said his administration and both tribes are “continuing to talk.”

All sides say the agreement will generate tens of millions of dollars in revenue to the state. It calls for a 20% tax on online gambling offerings, or “iGaming,” and a 13.75% tax rate on sports betting.

The plan would bring casino games such as poker, along with sports betting and the lottery to cellphones and desktop computers, with the tribes and Connecticut Lottery competing against one another. The deal also creates sports-wagering venues across the state, including larger facilities in Hartford and Bridgeport.

The deal must be approved by the General Assembly, but 17 Democratic and Republican lawmakers from eastern Connecticut told Lamont they will not support it without both tribes on board.

Butler said despite what he called “bad faith negotiations,” he’s past it. Soon after Lamont and the Mohegan Tribe announced the deal, Butler said it was “extremely disrespectful in terms of process and substance.”

“I immediately re-engaged. I let off some steam,” he said.

Those close to the negotiations said the Mashantucket Pequots balked at the 20% state share of iGaming, preferring instead 18%. They also said the Lamont administration reduced an original demand for 25%, equal to the state’s share of the casinos’ slot revenue.

Butler would not confirm the tribal nation’s stance on the state share, saying only that the Mohegans and Mashantucket Pequots operate differently.

“It’s not my style of negotiating. I’m not going to negotiate in the press,” he said. “It’s about the deal holistically, related to all the other gives.”

The Mashantucket Pequots have gone “so far above and beyond to make this deal happen,” Butler said. The agreement the tribe would have signed off on would have generated $70 million to $80 million a year for the state, he said.

“The state is certainly making out well,” Butler said.