For about 30 years Connecticut’s gaming tribes, the Pequots and the Mohegans, have had exclusive rights to offer gaming. In return, they have paid the state 25 percent of their gross gaming slot revenue. Now politicians in the Nutmeg state are giving that exclusivity a second look in light of offers from MGM Resorts to build a casino in Bridgeport.
Unfortunately for the tribes’ arguments that they should retain exclusivity, their payments have been falling steadily for 10 years. Their profits are the victims of the proliferation of casinos in neighboring states.
The most recent rival to open was the MGM Springfield, which began operating in August, just 14 miles from Connecticut’s boundary with Massachusetts.
Now MGM is arguing that it is time to end the monopoly because it is in a position to pay the state more for allowing MGM to build a commercial casino in Bridgeport than it will lose if the tribes no longer pay 25 percent of their profits. A casino in that location would be able to tap the market from New York, which now has to drive two hours longer to get to the tribal casinos.
What could lure the state legislature to this position is that Connecticut has a chronic budget problem and rather than cuts expenses, lawmakers and governors have tended instead to look for more revenues.
The tribes argue that they and the state have been “good partners” and that the casinos employ thousands of state residents.
