Chairman Rodney Butler of the Mashantucket Pequot Tribe, which operates Foxwoods in Connecticut, is hoping to win reelection to a fourth term in November. He is also seeking a sixth three year council seat term.
Currently the 41-year-old Butler wears two very big hats, that of chairman and as temporary CEO of Foxwoods, a situation mandated by the unexpected death of CEO Felix Rappaport on June 18.
He is leading the tribe and casino in a particularly stressful time. The casino is bracing for the extreme shock expected when the MGM Springfield opens across the border in Massachusetts. This is considered to be the most taxing period the casino has faced in the 22 years since it opened.
But Butler is sanguine about the competition, at least for publication. He told the Day: “It’s not the first time we’ve faced competition. In the beginning, we were drawing from as far away as Washington, D.C. Then there was Mohegan Sun, then (competition from) Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, Maryland. So this isn’t so different; it’s just another layer.”
Rappaport, 65, had been working to plan the casino’s response to MGM when he was found dead in the suite on the casino grounds where he lived. He was considered healthy and fit and his death was a complete surprise.
Right now Foxwoods is talking to headhunters and will probably name a permanent replacement within a few months. The quality of the candidates is very high, says Butler.
Rappaport’s legacy was to move away from a resort that was totally dependent on gaming, and to appeal to a large audience.
Another part of the strategy of dealing with MGM is the joint casino in East Windsor that the Pequots and the Mohegans, their erstwhile rivals, propose as a way to deflect some of the main threat of the MGM. MGM has been good at manipulating the system, however, both in the courts and among federal bureaucrats, like the Bureau of Indian Affairs, whose approval is necessary before the casino can operate.
This is frustrating, Butler admits. But he’s hoping that an investigation of the Department of the Interior will shake loose that approval soon. “It will be favorable to our point of view,” he told the Day.
MGM has also fought the tribes in the legislature, calling for an open bidding process on the third, commercial casino. Butler restrains himself in commenting on MGM. “They are a formidable competitor,” he says. “They do what it takes to win.” He adds, “Every month we’re not open saves MGM $10 million, that’s the bottom line.”
He calls outgoing Connecticut Governor Dannel P. Malloy, “the straightest shooter I’ve ever met in my life, whether people like him or not.” The tribes and the governor have been negotiating a possible agreement on sports betting.
The tribes maintain that their existing compacts with the state guarantee them a monopoly on all casino style games; they consider sports book such a game. He is confident of an agreement soon.
“If we can come up with something shortly … you still could be betting on the Super Bowl,” says the chairman.
