Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont says he’s close to making a deal on sports betting with Connecticut’s two gaming tribes, but he’s hedging his bets.
At a January 26 press conference, Lamont confidently said, “The tribes have been great partners for the state of Connecticut going back 25-plus years. I have no doubt we’re going to get this deal done.” Then he paused and added, “Knock on wood.”
In his first two years in office Lamont has tried several times to hammer out a gaming expansion bill only to run into the brick wall created by the tribes’ originally tribal state gaming compact with then Governor Lowell P. Weicker Jr. more than 25 years ago.
The fruits of that deal has been more than $8 billion paid by the tribes over the intervening years. The tribes stoutly insist that that compact guarantees them exclusivity on all casino games, and they insist sports betting is a casino game. Despite the clambering of other stakeholders, such as Sportech the state’s licensed OTB seller and the state lottery, for a share of the sports betting pie, they are sticking to their contention that they are entitled to all of it.
Recently Chuck Bunnell, the Mohegan tribe’s chief of staff, recently told reporters, “We’re hopeful. We’re not there.” The Mohegans own the Mohegan Sun.
Rodney Butler, chairman of the Mashantucket Pequots, who own Foxwoods, added, “We’re at the one yard line, and we just have to punch it in.”
Lamont will be presenting a budget package to the legislature on February 10 that will include his hopes for a sports betting bill—with or without a deal with the tribes in his pocket.
Recently a parade of representatives from all the interested parties pitched their arguments to the legislature’s Public Safety and Security Committee, conducted as a Zoom meeting.
One of the co-chairmen, Rep. Maria Horn, emphasized that the panel’s job was fact-gathering at that point and not policy-making. But representatives from Foxwoods Resort Casino and the Mohegan Sun, the Lottery and Sportech were clearly lobbying. The latter two wanted a share of the sports betting profits, the tribes wanted exclusivity.
Bunnell told committee: “We’re willing to talk and be reasonable and negotiate. That’s what partners do as they evolve and look at new things. But let’s do no harm by bringing someone else into Connecticut that isn’t currently here and not part of this arrangement that has been so beneficial to all of us.”
The tribes emphasized how generous they have been in paying 25 percent of their slots revenues over the decades, noting that few states get such a deal. Butler said, “It is the single largest expense of our business. In fact, most would be surprised to find that the largest financial beneficiary of Foxwoods is the state itself. The state annually receives more from Foxwoods than our lenders.”
Of course, when the tribes agreed to that percentage in the 1990’s they were guaranteed exclusivity not only in the state, but practically all of New England. For a time they were among the largest casino resorts in the world.
Today they have competition in New York, Massachusetts and Rhode Island. At the same time, Foxwoods is diversifying and recently announced that it would be opening a Foxwoods in Puerto Rico on the beachfront in San Juan.
The Mohegans began diversifying to other markets prior to the Great Recession of 2008. They already get profits from sports betting in New Jersey, Nevada and Pennsylvania.
