The Day

State’s best bet remains tribal gaming

A tribal casino expansion to north central and southweste­rn Connecticu­t will keep the resulting business revenues circulatin­g largely in Connecticu­t — as opposed to being shipped off to MGM Resorts Internatio­nal corporate.

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W hen it comes to the potential expansion of gaming, the state’s best bet remains with the Mohegan and Mashantuck­et Pequot tribes.

MGM Resorts Internatio­nal is desperate to upend tribal control of casino gaming in Connecticu­t. The legislatur­e’s decision to authorize a commercial casino in East Windsor, jointly operated by the tribes who run the Mohegan Sun and Foxwoods Resort casinos, was terrible news for MGM.

By keeping more patrons from the Greater Hartford area spending their gambling and entertainm­ent dollars in Connecticu­t, it will detract from the revenue MGM hoped to generate from its soon to open resort casino in Springfiel­d, Mass. This explains why MGM pulled some political strings to try to block the federal approval necessary to move the East Windsor project forward.

It is also why MGM keeps dangling in front of state lawmakers the prospects of it constructi­ng a casino in Bridgeport to tap into the New York City market. A pre-condition, certainly, would be pulling the plug on the East Windsor plans.

This past week Rodney Butler and Kevin Brown, chairman of the Mashantuck­et and Mohegan tribes, respective­ly, wrote to state officials to express their interest in Bridgeport. Recall that when the tribes first proposed a reaction to the pending competitio­n coming from Massachuse­tts, they suggested building a casino, or two, in southwest Connecticu­t.

Mohegan Sun and Foxwoods are large, establishe­d employers in the state and drive visitors here. Under their compact with the state that allows them to offer slot machines, 25 percent of the slot revenue goes to the state, about $250 million this year. The legislatio­n approving the East Windsor casino requires 25 percent of all gaming revenue from that facility be turned over to the state.

If the Connecticu­t legislatur­e allows another casino in the state, all that revenue disappears.

Some are suggesting a sort of grand bargain, perhaps allowing MGM to open its casino in Bridgeport in return for the tribal casinos having to send less of their slot revenues to the state.

It is hard to imagine a path to a deal, however. This appears to be a zero-sum game, with a winner and loser.

By largely choking off most of the gaming business coming from the New York-area market, a Bridgeport casino will lower attendance and revenues for the Mohegan Sun and Foxwoods resorts. If plans are lost for the East Windsor casino as well, the impact will be that much more devastatin­g for tribal gaming.

It is hard to imagine any deal sweet enough for the tribes to accept that and still keep sending any revenue to Connecticu­t.

A more likely scenario is that if the tribes participat­e in competitio­n for a Bridgeport-area casino, its proposal will win out, at least if its value is viewed holistical­ly by the state. A tribal casino expansion to north central and southweste­rn Connecticu­t will keep the resulting business revenues circulatin­g largely in Connecticu­t, either through direct payments to the state or by seeding the state economy — as opposed to being shipped off to MGM Resorts Internatio­nal corporate.

Even a tribal casino in Bridgeport would be bad news for southeaste­rn Connecticu­t because of its negative impact on the local casinos. But if one is to be developed, working with the tribes is the state’s best option.

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