MMCT Venture, the joint casino development authority for the Mohegan and Pequot tribes, took the first steps toward financing the $300 million Tribal Winds Casino in East Windsor, Connecticut. It sent a payment for $1 million to the Department of Consumer Protection to cover regulatory costs.
The tribes operate Foxwoods and the Mohegan Sun casino resorts.
The tribes have been working with city officials to jump start the project after many months of lying nearly dormant due to inaction for more than a year by the federal government in giving the tribes a needed approval for the amended tribal state compacts. That includes submitting designs and plans for approval by the city.
The tribes have also committed to paying the city $8.5 million in new tax and mitigation.
Interim Tribal Chairman James Gessner stated “The payment we’re making today to the state ensures that Connecticut taxpayers won’t have to pay for any costs associated with the opening of Tribal Winds Casino.”
The tribes have already demolished the former Showcase Cinemas on the site, but have yet to begin actual construction.
The $300 million casino will employ about 5,000 workers, including 2,000 permanent employees. It could also generate another 1,000 jobs through collateral economic activity. It is sited strategically to blunt the effects on the two tribal casinos of the MGM Springfield, which is about 14 miles across the common border with Massachusetts. It opened last August.
MMCT will announce financing and building timeline soon, said Pequot Chairman Rodney Butler last week.
Last week opponents of more gaming in the state spoke at a public forum.
At this forum former U.S. Rep. Robert Steele declared, “Government-sponsored gambling constitutes a regressive tax on low-income people” He added, “It contributes to poverty and economic inequality, supposedly one of the biggest problems in our country today—but you’d certainly never know it given the continued expansion of legalized gambling.”
The forum didn’t just target the tribal casino, it was also aimed at stopping the proposal for a casino in the state’s largest city, Bridgeport. It also included discussion of the proposed sports betting bill.
Steele called on public officials to hit the brakes on gaming expansion until an independent body can study the effects in the last quarter century of gaming in the state, and possible future impacts.
Rep. Joe Verrengia, co-chairmen of the legislative committee tasked with gaming legislation, who attended the forum, thanked the group and spoke about his special cause, the need to fund problem gambling treatment.
“Whenever you can shine a light on the issue of problem gaming, it’s a good thing,” he said, according to the Hartford Courant. “When it comes to the expansion of gaming, whether it’s casinos or sports betting, there’s a financial impact and there’s also a social impact.”
