As a new hotel prepares to open, the Mohegan Sun and FanDuel, a leader in daily fantasy sports, have partnered in a marketing arrangement to offer FanDuel through the casino’s website and win prizes, such as stays at the Sun’s Sky Tower or brand new Earth Tower, entertainment events and free meals.
Mohegan CEO Bobby Soper declared, “This partnership with our friends at FanDuel allows us to further introduce our Mohegan Sun audience to the online sports arena that has become so popular, and fun to play.” Soper added that he considers fantasy sports to be “a game of skill.”
The new arrangement will allow FanDuel and the Sun to host contests throughout the year for various sports, such as NHL, NBA and NFL and win tickets to events at the Mohegan Sun Arena, which hosts concerts and sporting events.
The Mohegan Sun is also ready to open its second hotel tower, the long-awaited 400-room Earth Hotel.
President and General Manager Ray Pineault told News 8, “We are getting more recognition that people want to come from various places to come see us – and that’s putting strain on our limited resource which is our hotel rooms.” He figures that the casino has turned away nearly a million reservations due to a lack of rooms.
Each room comes equipped with an iPad that allows visitors to book room service, control the temperature—even when you may be in the casino.
The plan is to make the Sun into a national and international vacation destination.
Pineault commented, “Our vision is that this is going to compete with any resort operation in the world. That when you think about vacation. Where you want to spend multiple days and go visit for a while—that Mohegan Sun is on your list—we are competing with guests around the United states, no doubt about it.”
Meanwhile, the tribe is in talks with the nearby town of Preston over the possible sale of the old Norwich Hospital site which is adjacent to land that the tribe owns where it wants to develop a non-gaming resort that would complement the existing casino, which is located across the Thames River. The proposed development would be called the Preston Riverwalk.
The town and tribe last week agreed to a memorandum of understand to add another 90 days to the negotiations over the 393 acres that have gone on since May. The original deadline was November 19.
Mohegan Tribal Chairman Kevin “Red Eagle” Brown commented, “While we are eager to showcase our vision to the townspeople of Preston, collectively, we believe a minor delay to ensure we get things set correctly is worth it in the long run.”
