The Day

A poll commission­ed by MGM

- — Brian Hallenbeck

finds that Bridgeport residents overwhelmi­ngly supports plans to build a casino on the city’s waterfront.

Poll results released over the weekend show Bridgeport residents overwhelmi­ngly support MGM Resorts Internatio­nal’s proposed developmen­t of a $675 million resort casino on the city’s waterfront.

The poll, commission­ed by MGM Resorts, found that nearly three-quarters of Bridgeport residents favor the plan, including 59 percent who strongly favor it and another 16 percent who are “not so strongly” behind it.

Eighteen percent of the respondent­s opposed the casino, including 13 percent who were “strongly opposed.”

MGM Resorts attributed the support to factors that more than 70 percent of residents view as “very important,” according to the survey: the creation of thousands of jobs, annual payments of $8 million to Bridgeport and $4.5 million to neighborin­g communitie­s and annual payments to the state.

“The overwhelmi­ng support is a clear signal to state policy makers that Connecticu­t needs to update its antiquated gaming policy to take advantage of the job-creating and economy-expanding opportunit­y that is MGM Bridgeport,” Uri Clinton, MGM Resorts senior vice president and legal counsel, said in a statement.

MGM’s proposal would require legislativ­e approval that would affect the state’s exclusive gaming agreements with the Mashantuck­et Pequot and Mohegan tribes, respective owners of Connecticu­t’s two existing casinos. The tribes have been authorized to build a third Connecticu­t casino in East Windsor, where it will directly compete with a nearly $1 billion resort casino MGM Resorts is building in Springfiel­d, Mass.

Mashantuck­et — Foxwoods Resort Casino announced Monday that Jennifer Johnson has been promoted from executive director to vice president of the casino’s Loyalty Marketing program.

“Since Jennifer joined the Foxwoods team two years ago, her tenacity and relentless work ethic have proved that she is the perfect fit for the incredibly important role of vice president of our Loyalty Marketing program,” Felix Rappaport, president and chief executive officer of Foxwoods, said in a statement. “From day-to-day operations to evolving and rebranding our Foxwoods Rewards, we can attribute our growing, loyal customer base to Jennifer’s inventive know-how to keep guests coming back for more.”

Johnson’s responsibi­lities will include developing and operating technology-based casino player bonusing systems and casino-based loyalty card programs. She will spearhead the developmen­t, implementa­tion and maintenanc­e of bus operations and marketing, including identifyin­g trends and overseeing operations of all line runs and charters throughout New England and the East Coast.

She also will oversee the creation and scheduling of all special events, promotions and gaming tournament­s.

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