In letter to Malloy, tribes object to bill that would expand casinos
The chairmen of the Mashantucket Pequot and Mohegan tribes have written to Gov. Dannel P. Malloy about their opposition to a casino-expansion bill, which, if passed, eventually could cause the tribes to stop sharing casino revenue with the state.
In a letter a tribal spokesman said was delivered to the governor’s office Friday, the chairmen — Rodney Butler of the Mashantuckets and Kevin Brown of the Mohegans — “raise serious concerns” about House Bill 5305, which calls for casino operators to submit proposals for a casino somewhere in the state. The bill does not authorize a casino, action that would require additional legislation.
The legislature’s Public Safety and Security Committee approved the bill, which is subject to House and Senate approval.
The tribal chairmen say the RFP, or request-for-proposals, process outlined in HB 5305 violates current agreements between the tribes and the state. They say the tribes would not participate in the process. Ultimately, they say, the authorization of any new casino would breach the tribes’ exclusivity agreements with
the state, freeing them of the obligation to share with the state 25 percent of the slot-machine revenue generated by their respective casinos, Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun.
While state Attorney General George Jepsen has opined that “the proposed legislation would not run afoul of our existing agreements with the Tribes,” the chairmen write that they believe “the Bill poses risks going forward.” The chairmen copied Jepsen on their letter to the governor.
Jepsen stands by the views he expressed earlier, a spokeswoman for the attorney general’s office wrote Monday in an email.
If the request-for-proposals process ended in no proposal being accepted and no casino being authorized, the entire process would have been “a waste,” the chairmen write. “Thus, the only outcomes of this process are a waste of the State’s resources on a fruitless RFP or the end of the revenue-sharing agreements that have long benefitted both the State and the Tribes.”
MGM Resorts International has indicated it will propose a Bridgeport casino if HB 5305 is enacted. The Las Vegas-based operator is developing a nearly $1 billion casino in Springfield, Mass., a project that prompted the tribes to pursue a “satellite” casino of their own in nearby East Windsor.
MGM is seeking to intervene in a lawsuit the state and the tribes filed against the U.S. Department of the Interior over the department’s failure to act on amended gaming agreements that incorporate the East Windsor project. MGM has filed briefs in a bid to enter the suit on the side of the Interior Department.