Proponents for a Bridgeport Casino admitted defeat for this year at least shortly before the end of the 2018 legislative session. The delegation from Bridgeport and New Haven who had pushed hard for a vote on the casino held a news conference with MGM and bragged about how far they got.
Las Vegas-based MGM first proposed the $700 commercial casino last fall. It promised to create 2,000 permanent jobs and 5,000 construction jobs.
Rep. Toni Walker declared, “We did immensely well in moving the bill from the committee to the House. We think that this is a good starting place for us next year.” They anticipate a more receptive atmosphere next year and will use the time to work on a new version of the legislation and educate other lawmakers whose minds they hope to change next year.
Rep. Steve Stafstrom added, “It gives us a lot of momentum coming out of a short session into a long session next year to continue to advance this and continue to push for tax-based growth and jobs and opportunities for the Bridgeport-New Haven corridor.”
Bridgeport Mayor Joe Ganim, who is also running for governor, hasn’t given up on the idea either. He told the Connecticut Post, “We need to continue to push for this, the sooner the better.”
Uri Clinton, MGM spokesman, confirmed that the gaming developer remains committed to the project, and added that MGM looks at the long haul. He noted that it took six years to bring the MGM Springfield to Massachusetts. “Rarely we have gaming policy that moves so far in a single session,” said Clinton, referring to this year’s session.
The bill would not have authorized a casino but would have created a framework for accepting bids.
Supporters pushed hard enough that the House passed a bill 77-73 close to the end of the session and then moved to the Senate, where the momentum fizzled. A deal killer for many was the question of whether such a bill would end the 25-year old tribal state compact between the Pequot and Mohegan tribes that operate the state’s two Indian casinos. The compacts guarantee exclusivity for the tribes in return for the casinos paying 25 percent of their revenues to the state. The tribes are expected to pay $260 million this year, a figure that MGM has said it could match and exceed.
Senator Ed Gomes, who supported the bill, commented “Some folks in the Senate, they just won’t play our way, and we could go up there and force them to run bills or take all sorts of action, but that isn’t what we are seeking.” He added, “We are seeking some sort of cohesiveness, so we can move in the future in a way that is constructive.”
The owners of the land where MGM would like to build, Robert W. Christoph Sr., and Robert W. Christoph Jr. were also at the news conference, which took place at Bridgeport Landing Development, overlooking the site of the proposed casino.
The younger Christoph in a joint statement with MGM commented, “We realize that change is hard and takes time, and we respect the delegations’ preference not to dominate debate with this issue with much to accomplish in a short time in the session’s final hours.”
Andrew Doba, spokesman for MMCT Venture, the joint authority of the gaming tribes, who are currently clearing land in East Windsor for a satellite casino to blunt the effects of the MGM Springfield, said in a statement that the tribes “continue to believe that it’s in the best interest of the state to keep the partnership with the tribes at the center of any conversation about whether to expand gaming in Connecticut.”
