Appeal Court Dismisses MGM’s Connecticut Lawsuit

Sat, Sep 16, 2017

MGM Resorts seems to have lost its last legal recourse against Connecticut’s law that allowed the Pequot and Mohegan tribes to identify a location for a commercial casino in East Windsor. The 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals denied MGM’s request for an en banc hearing before the full appeals court after a three-judge panel of the court ruled against it.

The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has rejected a rehearing request by MGM Resorts of its lawsuit that challenged the law allowing Connecticut’s two gaming tribes to build a third, satellite casino aimed at preventing the MGM Springfield casino in Massachusetts from draining away tribal gaming revenues.

MGM claims that the law violated the state constitution by authorizing the Mohegan and Mashantucket Pequot tribes to build a commercial casino on non-reservation land in East Windsor. The courts have sided with the state so far, including in this final instance.

MGM seeks to keep the $300 million satellite that will be located almost on the border from interrupting its efforts to attract Connecticut players to Springfield. The casino has a scheduled fall of 2018 opening.

Last month MGM Senior Vice President and legal counsel Uri Clinton declared, “As we have been saying all along, we believe this new law violates both the state and United States constitutions, and we will continue to argue our case vigorously.”

Although the appeals court has ended MGM’s challenge to the original 2015 law that authorized the tribes to identify a location for the casino, it has not yet challenged the most recently adopted law that actually authorizes the casino.

MGM argues that the state acted unconstitutionally by not allowing for a competitive bidding process and expanding gaming in the state without a vote of the people. This violates the U.S. Constitution’s Equal Protection Clause, it claims.

The planned casino will have 2,000 slots and as many as 150 gaming tables. The tribes still require the approval of the Bureau of Indian Affairs of the recently amended tribal state gaming compact that includes a provision that the tribes may operate a commercial casino without being in violation of the original compact, which guaranteed them exclusive gaming rights, without any commercial casinos being allowed.

If BIA approval happens, which is considered likely, MMCT, the joint tribal venture could begin construction quickly. Then the race will be to see which casino opens first.

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