MGM Resorts International still hopes that it might be able to build a commercial casino in Connecticut’s largest city, Bridgeport.
Several months ago, MGM quietly renewed a contract giving it the option to develop a casino in Bridgeport Harbor on land controlled by the RCI Group. The option was renewed in September.
Two years ago, in the midst of its very public fight with Connecticut’s two gaming tribes, the Mohegans and the Mashantucket Pequots, MGM added spice to the battle by proposing a $675 million casino across the harbor from RCI’s Steelpointe Harbor mixed-use development. The plan included a dock, a marina, a retail quarter, entertainment venues and a residential component.
Renewing the option by itself does nothing except act as a placeholder. But it makes it plain that MGM is not giving up its turf battle with the gaming tribes. Its $976 million MGM Springfield, which opened in August, and the Empire City Casino in Yonkers, which it manages, compete with the Mohegan tribe, which runs Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, Connecticut, Sun and Foxwoods Resort Casino, in Ledyard.
The tribes have always regarded MGM Springfield as an existential threat, and they successfully lobbied the legislature to allow them to build a $300 million satellite commercial casino in East Windsor, 14 miles from Springfield, to blunt MGM’s effect on their bottom line. The erstwhile rivals formed MMCT Venture as a joint authority to build that casino.
MGM used all means available, including legal challenges and political influence, to put roadblocks in the way of that casino development. Currently MGM has a federal lawsuit pending against the U.S. Department of the Interior, challenging the legality of its action that allowed the tribes to amend their tribal state gaming compacts so they could build a commercial casino.
Pushing the Bridgeport casino plan, MGM argued to pay the state more in taxes from that lucrative market than the $240 million the tribes paid last year as their 25 percent of slots revenue.
Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont is trying to act as broker between the tribes and the legislature as they try to come up with an acceptable plan for legalizing sports betting as well as a casino in Bridgeport. So far, that’s gone nowhere.
MGM continues to press for an open bidding process that would allow it a chance to bid for the Bridgeport license. It won the support of the House last year, but did not get any support in the Senate for a vote.
Last week, hoping to spark some movement, Senator Dennis Bradley, whose district includes Bridgeport, wrote a letter to Governor Lamont asking him to call a special session of the legislature to vote on a plan that would allow the tribes to build the Bridgeport casino. Bradley is the co-chairman of the public safety committee, which has oversight on gaming issues.
Commenting on the governor’s recent speech that mentioned the possibility of a casino in Bridgeport, the senator said Lamont “seemed to ignore that fact that we already have legislation that has bipartisan support in both the House and the Senate just waiting for the call of a special session.”
He added, “Since the end of the legislative session, my colleagues and I have had discussions with both the Mohegan and Mashantucket Pequot tribes about the kind of investment that would lay the foundation for real success in Bridgeport. The $100 million direct investment from the tribes, part of a $300 million dollar economic development project, is exactly the kind of new foundation we want to set in our city.”
His letter concluded, “You’ve said from the beginning that whatever agreement is reached is ‘going to have include Bridgeport.’ I can’t thank you enough for advocating so strongly in favor of the interests of our city. I would urge you to support the Connecticut Jobs and Revenue Act so we can bring these plans to fruition.”
