MGM Springfield’s projected opening is in 2018.
Foxwoods Casino and Mohegan Sun are facing resistance in their plan to open a satellite casino near the border with Massachusetts. Local residents in two communities being considered as a site for the casino want to see the development slowed down, or perhaps ended altogether.
Residents want a more open licensing process, including more openness on the bidding for a casino site. The two Native American tribes, which are an institution in Connecticut’s land-based casino industry, plan to build a casino in the Hartford area, to compete with the MGM Springfield across the border in Massachusetts.
The Connecticut State Legislature rushed a bill to the governor, allowing the two tribes to open their casino before the prospective opening of MGM Springfield.
That has caused some backlash. First, MGM Resorts filed a lawsuit claiming their overtures to bid on a Connecticut casino had been illegally rebuffed. Now, Hartford residents are criticizing the process.
Michael DiMassa’s Casino Bill
Rep. Michael DiMassa, a Democrat from West Haven, introduced a bill he says champions his constituents’ issues. DiMassi told the Hartford Courant, “The tribes really have had a monopoly on this. What this really is trying to do is open up this process a little more, make it a little more transparent.”
The Mashantucket (Foxwoods) Tribe and the Mohegan Tribe have owned brick-and-mortar casinos in Connecticut since the 1990s (Foxwoods began as a bingo parlor in 1986). At a time, the two casinos were among the largest and most profitable in the world.
Connecticut Gambling’s Rise and Fall
That was a time when the market was not saturated. In the the 21st century, nearby states like Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New York, and Pennsylvania have built substantial land-based gaming industries of their own. That has been a big problem for Connecticut’s tribal gaming interests.
In the new environment, gamblers tend to stay nearer to home to gamble in a casino setting. The market is more fractured and local, so maintaining the loyalty of your in-state gamblers is a key to survival.
A Challenge from the MGM Springfield
When the MGM Springfield was announced, the two tribes realized they would have a modern, billion-dollar casino only 30 minutes from the Connecticut border. With Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun in the southeastern portion of the state, the tribes were concerned that Connecticut gamblers in the Hartford area would drive the half-hour to gamble in the MGM Springfield. Gaming revenues would flow away from the already-troubled and debt-ridding Connecticut casinos, while tax revenues would flow away from the government of Connecticut.
For that reason, the Connecticut state legislature quickly passed a satellite casino bill. The Mashantucket and Mohegan tribes, longtime rivals inside the state, would partner on a third casino. This would be less ambitious — someone called it a “slots box” — which would serve as a firewall for Connecticut gamblers. Instead of driving 30 minutes to gamble, Hartford-area gambler could drive 5 minutes.
That presents a rare opportunity for the communities in and around Hartford. The tribal casino operators have no other metropolitan area to consider for their firewall, so the people of nearby communities can play hardball a bit. Thus, they have encouraged their state senator to oppose the building of a Mashantucket-Mohegan casino.
Social Conservatives Oppose Hartford-Area Casino
Some are using the potential pause in development as a chance to stop construction altogether. Rev. Dwight Dean, pastor at Windsor Locks Congregational Church, said in a Tuesday press conference, “We are united in our belief that another casino in Connecticut is a bad idea. Gambling contributes to the loss of a healthy biblical work ethic.”
Rev. Dean continued his criticism of the sloth and greed he believes gambling entails by saying, “It [gambling] replaces the reliance upon hard work, savings and prudence in spending with greed, luck and chance as the preferred route to fulfillment and prosperity.”
Peter Wolfgang of the Family Institute of Connecticut said his group has joined Rev. Dean’s opposition group. That group includes Connecticut Catholic Public Affairs Conference, the New England Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the Connecticut Conference of the United Church of Christ, and the Farmington Valley American Muslim Center to oppose a third casino in Hartford.
Wolfgang explained that his support comes from the fact that casino gambling is “such a threat to family life”.
