The Mashantucket Pequot Tribe and the Mohegans, partners in the MMCT joint casino authority are urging the Bureau of Indian Affairs to issue a ruling that they need to begin work on the state’s third casino—this one a commercial casino designed to compete with a rival that will soon open in Massachusetts.
Last week the BIA missed a deadline to approve of amendments to the tribal state gaming compact that the tribes operate Foxwoods and the Mohegan Sun under.
The tribes argue that by not commenting the BIA has given its assent, but until the state’s Attorney General George Jepsen agrees, everyone is reluctant to start building in East Windsor.
That, of course would be exactly what MGM Resorts International would prefer. MGM is building the $950 million MGM Springfield 14 miles from East Windsor in the Bay State that is due to open in less than a year. It has conducted an extremely aggressive campaign to try to stop the $300 million satellite casino from being built.
Last week the state’s two U.S. Senators, Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy and Rep. Joe Courtney tried to break the logjam by writing to Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke asking him to expedite a ruling.
The Indian Gaming Regulatory Act requires that gaming compacts be approved by the BIA. The amendment to the existing compacts is required to make plain that the tribes are not violating the exclusivity of the compact by operating a commercial casino—essentially competing against themselves.
The last communication from the BIA came from a high-level secretary who wrote: “We find that there is insufficient information upon which to make a decision as to whether a new casino operated by the tribes would or would not violate the exclusivity clauses of the Gaming Compact. The Tribes have entered an agreement with the State whereby they have agreed that the exclusivity provisions will not be breached by this arrangement. Therefore, our action is unnecessary at this time.”
The lawmakers wrote that the third casino is not governed by IGRA, but that “in order to clarify that the proposed third casino operation would not implicate the existing compact provisions, the Tribes and the State determined that it would be in the best interests of the Mashantucket Pequot and Mohegan Tribes along with the state of Connecticut for the compact language to be amended.” They added, “Department of Interior approval would merely continue this beneficial Tribal-State relationship.”
MGM was quick to issue its own response to the letter. Uri Clinton, spokesman and legal counsel for MGM said, “Today’s letter raises no new issues and provides no new information that would change the Department of the Interior’s decision not to approve the Tribes’ submissions.” He added, “It also does not address the risks to the state of proceeding with MMCT’s proposed casino without Interior approval that have been emphasized by Attorney General Jepsen’s office.”
Clinton noted that Jepsen last week issued a statement warning against proceeding without the BIA ruling. “We have consistently warned against proceeding with a jointly owned tribal casino off of tribal land without first having approval from the Department of the Interior,” said Jaclyn Severance, Jepsen’s spokesman. “We continue to think doing so poses grave potential risks to the state of Connecticut.”
