Foxwoods had a 5% dip in September and a 10% decline in October.
Foxwoods Resort Casino reported a 10% drop in slot machine revenues year-to-year for October 2018. The decline in revenues is attributable to the opening of the MGM Springfield in late-August, according to the Foxwoods Casino management.
The southeastern Connecticut casino said it generated $34.3 million in October 2018, which is ten percent off the pace from the $37.5 million it generated in October 2017. Foxwoods reported a 5% decline in September 2018, which it also attributed to the MGM Springfield.
Mohegan Sun, the other Connecticut tribal casino, has not reported its October earnings yet. Mohegan Sun’s September slots revenues were down 9% year-to-year.
MGM Springfield opened two months ago, which corresponds to the decline in slots revenues for Foxwoods Casino and Mohegan Sun. The two tribal casinos predicted this would happen if they could not build a satellite casino to keep Connecticut gamblers in-state.
Why MGM Spingfield Cannibalizes Connecticut Revenues
MGM Springfield is located less than 30 miles from the Hartford metropolitan area, which contains 1.21 million of the state’s 3.58 million residents. With roughly one-third of the state’s population only a 25-minute drive to Springfield — and the drive to Mohegan Sun and Foxwoods between 1 hour to 1 & 1/2 hours — many Hartford-area residents are likely to gamble in Springfield.
That is the reason the Mohegan and Mashantucket Pequot (Foxwoods) tribes planned the East Windsor casino, which would have been located in the Hartford area. The satellite casino was designed as a firewall to keep Hartford gamblers in-state and playing at a venue owned by Connecticut’s tribal gaming interests.
The Connecticut legislature approved the East Windsor casino. Gov. Daniel Malloy signed off on the plan. The casino operators even selected a site for the casino and submitted a development plan to the US Bureau of Indian Affairs, which is part of the US Department of the Interior.
Indian Bureau Rejected Hartford Casino
That is where the plan fell apart. For new tribal casinos to be built, the Indian Affairs Bureau must approve the plan. That met a huge snag when Ryan Zinke’s Interior Department leadership declined to issue a decision within the federally-mandated 90-day limit.
A year later, when a lawsuit called for a decision by Zinke’s administrators, the federal overseers ruled that the plan was insufficient. That led to a lawsuit by the tribes against Ryan Zinke. A US district judge ruled the Interior Department had to make a ruling, but did not have to approve the joint venture by Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun.
The tribes claim that Ryan Zinke met with lobbyists from MGM Resorts, which they imply conspired with the Interior Secretary to undermine the East Windsor casino plan. That remains nothing more than an allegation, though one which many citizens are willing to believe.
Could East Windsor Receive a New Review?
Mohegan Sun and Foxwoods have a measure of hope their plans will receive a new look in the coming year. By most accounts, Ryan Zinke is on his way out as a cabinet official. The Department of the Interior’s own Inspector General recommended Zinke for investigation by the US Department of Justice’s Inspector General.
That investigation could return a criminal indictment from Zinke (for issues beyond the East Hartford casino). In his post-midterm comments, President Donald Trump praised most of his cabinet officials — except for former Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Ryan Zinke. President Trump was noncommittal in whether he would retain Zinke, and even suggested he was displeased with his tenure at the Interior Department.
David Bernhardt: New Interior Secretary?
The Connecticut tribes might not get a fair look at their satellite casino plans. Some reports suggest that Ryan Zinke’s replacement will be Deputy Secretary of the Interior, David Bernhardt. While Bernhardt’s stance on climate change is more mainstream than Ryan Zinke’s, Bernhardt appears to have been a part of the decisions to reject the East Windsor casino plan. It is far from certain he or his lieutenants would overturn Zinke’s decision on casinos.
Personnel at the Interior Department is up in the air, due to internal squabbles and palace intrigues. In October, when he became aware he would be referred to the Justice Department for a possible criminal indictment, Ryan Zinke tried to fire his inspector general, Mary Kendall, and replace her with loyalist Suzanne Israel Tufts.
Because Mary Kendall is a 10-year appointment supposed to be free from pressures by her nominal boss — and because of intense media scrutiny over the decision — Ryan Zinke had to rescind the decision a couple of days later.
