Mohegan Sun, Foxwoods set to enjoy regional gaming monopoly

When Connecticut’s two tribal casinos reopen on Monday, they may enjoy a rare regional advantage, with the surrounding states of New York, Massachusetts and Rhode Island still uncertain when they will allow gambling resorts to resume business in the coronavirus pandemic.

In fact, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Maryland and most of New York have not set dates for casino restarts, although tribal nations in northern New York plan on resuming gaming on June 10. Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo on Friday is expected to set an opening date for as late as mid-June or July.

Foxwoods Resort & Casino and Mohegan Sun won’t accept tour buses and will require visitors to wear masks and have their temperatures taken, among many other precuations. But the relatively short driving distance from other states could make them monopoly destinations — or, rather, a duopoly since they compete against each other.

The question is whether their coronavirus pandemic protocols can win and keep the trust of a gambling public that has been denied action for the last 11 weeks.

The entire gambling industry, like other entertainment options, has been devastated by the coronavirus pandemic. It’s no secret that the Connecticut casinos — already seeing their revenues slip due to competition in recent years — badly need the head start.

Gov. Ned Lamont insists June is too soon, and as recently as last week he threatened to appeal directly to gaming customers by telling them to stay home. Although the tribes are independent of Connecticut, the state could suspend their liquor licenses.

But in recent days Lamont has backed away from confronting either the Mohegan or the Mashantucket Pequot tribal nations. It seems unlikely now that teams of state commissioners, lawmakers and the news media have visited the casinos this week and seen massive changes, including plexiglass shields and low population limits at table games.

“I saluted them,” Lamont said during an unrelated event in Hartford on Thursday. “I said, look, you’re a sovereign country, you’ve made that very clear. And you didn’t have to, but back in March, to considerable financial hit to yourselves, you did close down those casinos. And here we are two months later, we have some of the lowest infection rates not only in the state but the entire region in eastern Connecticut, in part because of the incredible sacrifice the tribes made.

Obviously you’ve heard from me. I think the idea of opening up on June 1 is early. It’s earlier than Las Vegas.”

Twenty-five percent of the total wagered on slot machines is remitted to the state, which earned about $255 million last year from the casinos. The controversy over the reopenings comes at a delicate time, amid off-andon talks with the tribes over the emerging sports-betting industry, which they maintain is their exclusive realm under the deals with the state that date back to the early- and mid1990s.

Lamont said he still wishes the tribes would wait longer to open their doors in the pandemic.

“Short of that I’d like them to put in stricter protocols,” he said. “I think that’s key for the public health of customers going in, their employees and the greater region.”

Lamont said he studied other state practices, such as in California, where casinos recently reopened. Tribal casinos are not allowing alcoholic beverages. “Alcohol is not great for social distancing,” Lamont said. “You’re taking off your mask. I thought that was a really important voluntary effort they made there.”

He said that Maryland plans tight controls on capacity and that tribal casinos in upstate New York are limiting patrons to the surrounding area, to avoid people coming from New York City and Boston.

Rodney Butler, chairman of the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation, which operates Foxwoods, said 1,000 employees have already been brought back for training in the new health protocols.

“We appreciate the recognition from the state of the extensive work we have done at Foxwoods to protect the public,” Butler said Thursday, in response to Lamont. “Many of the precuations the governor mentioned are already well underway and we look forward to feedback from the commissioners.”

Elaine Driscoll, communications director for the Massachusetts Gaming Commission, said Thursday there is no date yet for reopening, including the giant Encore resort in Revere adjacent to Boston, which opened less than a year ago at a cost of $2.6 billion.

Another of the chief competitors to Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun is MGM Springfield, which has been engaged in a legal cat-andmouse game over the Connecticut tribes’ joint plan to build a commercial casino along the Interstate-91 corridor north of Hartford. MGM has also expressed interest in developing a

Bridgeport casino, plans for which date back to 1994, when the state Senate killed a proposal.

“Governor Baker mandated that casino openings will take place in Phase 3 of the state’s phased-in approach to the commonwealth’s reopening plan,” Driscoll said Thursday. “The specific date will be determined by an assessment of the data and is not yet known.”

Rhode Island Gov. Raimondo recently agreed that she isn’t ready to reopen casinos either, but is interested to see how Las Vegas and other Nevada casinos do when they open up June 4.

“Opening up a casino ... man, you better get that right,” Raimondo said in a news conference. “And if that takes us a couple more weeks to get it right, I would much rather be safe than sorry.”