Several hundred East Windsor, Connecticut residents attended a “community conversation” in a high school auditorium hosted by Mashantucket Pequot and Mohegan tribes, who dangled the lure of million in tax revenues and good-paying jobs if their town is chosen for the tribes’ third casino in the state.
One woman present even offered her resume. About 21 people spoke all together from a group that was mostly positive.
Rodney Butler, tribal chairman for the Mashantucket Pequot and Kevin Brown, Mohegan tribal chairman, both spoke to the packed auditorium. They answered questions about traffic impacts and crime. They said the crime rates at their casinos actually decreased over the years.
“The traffic concerns that you have is a concern we have as business owners,” Butler told the crowd. “MMCT takes traffic concerns very seriously.”
After the meeting comments varied. “Not much had changed here,” a longtime resident told the Hartford Courant. “I think the casino will give us a way to fund the police department, the increase the police force.”
Another man said, “Sounds good to me. I have two kids in town and if it’s going to be better go ahead.”
A third man was not so positive. “I’m against the casino for the social impact … you’re just trying to fill our eyes with all the things money can fix,” he said.
Some felt that the need for more police that the tribes could pay for was not that pressing. “I am completely against this. I don’t think this is good for Windsor Locks,” one said. “How many more police will be needed?”
Windsor Locks First Selectman Christopher Kervick told the Courant: “I am pleased with the progress of the negotiations up until this point. I don’t have enough information to form an opinion right now but we need jobs that pay a livable wage with benefits. We need tax relief.”
The tribes are looking at a now vacant cinema as a possible site for their third tribal casino, which they as a bulwark to blunt the effects of the $950 million MGM Springfield casino resort that is rising 14 miles from Hartford, and which is expected open late in 2018.
The tribes have eliminated Hartford, South Windsor and East Hartford from consideration.
The satellite slots casino they envision would cost up to $300 million, with 2,000 slots and 150 gaming tables, but probably won’t be open before its rival. Brown told the East Windsor crowd last week, “All is not lost if we don’t open prior to MGM.”
While location is important, the tribes don’t yet have the approval of the Connecticut legislature to build an off-reservation casino. The erstwhile rivals, owners of Foxwoods and the Mohegan Sun, who have battled each other over the New England gaming market for nearly 20 years, joined forces in 2015 in face of the MGM Springfield, which they consider nearly an existential threat. They formed a joint authority called MMCT.
They claim that the MGM Springfield will suck away more than $330 million a year in revenues and decrease tax payments to the state by $68 million annually. On the other hand, they say, a third tribal casino will create 6,600 new union jobs and pour up to $6 million in property taxes into local government.
One lawmaker who opposes the idea is state Senator Tony Hwang, who is allied with a group of churches and other nonprofits. The coalition, which has about a dozen members, and includes several members who have long opposed gaming, calls itself the Coalition Against Casino Expansion in Connecticut. Eight are religious groups, along with the Connecticut League of Women Voters, Family Institute of Connecticut, Connecticut Association for Human Services and Advocacy Unlimited, Inc.
Hwang told the Associated Press: “There are so many questions. The challenge is ultimately time and the obstacles and the questions that are being raised that are not being answered.”
At a press conference held last week the Coalition said it hopes to educate the public about the costs of expanded gaming, both social and economic. They site a report that indicated that low income patrons would pay what would amount to a regressive tax. They also claim that a new casino would simply cannibalize the existing ones, while victimizing the vulnerable, and lower property values.
After receiving several applications over the last two years the tribes have narrowed the field down to the vacant Showcase Cinemas in East Windsor, a tobacco field in Windsor Locks or the Bradley International Airport in Windsor Locks.
The now dormant tobacco fields are on 70 acres owned by the Thrall family appears to have more appeal to MMCT than the airport. “It’s still an option, but right now we’re focused squarely on the Thrall property,” said MMCT spokesman Andrew Doba last week.
Kevin Dillon, executive director of the Connecticut Airport Authority conceded that the tribes haven’t been in contact for several months, but added that the airport is still interested.
The tobacco field meets one important criteria: it is highly visible from the nearby Interstate 91 freeway. It is also larger than the cinema property, giving more design flexibility.
However, the defunct movie theater also meets that criteria, and has the added attraction of having an existing building to move into. Important if the goal remains to beat the MGM Springfield to the punch.
The legislature will be in session until June 7. A so-called “shell” bill has been introduced to authorize the satellite casino, with all the details remaining to be filled in.
Lawmakers are concerned about the same issues that Attorney General George Jepsen raised two years ago about the possible constitutional problems by granting an exclusive right to the tribes to operate an off-reservation casino. This is the issue that MGM has raised in its federal court challenge to the siting process. Its first attempt was dismissed, but it has appealed.
MGM Executive Vice President Alan Feldman recently declared, “We’re going to continue to advocate for a new process in Connecticut because we would like to be able to be involved.”
Some lawmakers have said they support opening the process not only to the tribes. Another bill requires impact studies by independent groups and referendums by the host communities, so that residents don’t have a casino forced on them.
One factor the tribes do have working in their favor is the state’s $1.2 billion budget deficit, which can only get worse if the tribes lose millions to Massachusetts.
Rep. Scott Storms, who represents Windsor Locks and East Windsor, told the AP, “I really am concerned that everyone is not being heard. It’s a significant event in the life of the community and the community should be fully engaged in the decision and I don’t believe that engagement happens at the town meeting.”
