No legislation to expand the number of slots machines will be submitted in the Connecticut Senate this year, according to Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff.
The state has two casinos, the Mohegan Sun and Foxwoods, both tribal-operated. Several lawmakers have shown interest in expanding the number of slot machines allowed in the state, with the object of establishing a small casino near the Massachusetts border.
However Duff commented last week that the economy and job market have improved enough to keep revenue from hemorrhaging out of the state. He told the Hartford Courant that slot machines were “not the answer.”
He criticized former Speaker Jim Amann’s idea of putting slot machines at off-track betting sites and added that the tribes that operate the state’s two casinos must be consulted before any changes are made.
Apparently the tribes have been consulted, at least according to News 8, which reported last November that the Mohegan Tribe had indicated they wanted to start talks with the state.
Amann, who is now a lobbyist, and some legislative allies have proposed allowing slots at the off-track betting facilities in Windsor Locks, New Haven and Bridgeport. Amann represents the former Shoreline Star dog track in Bridgeport.
Previously spokesmen of the Mashantucket Pequot and Mohegan tribes had declared that the proposed bill would violate their tribal state gaming compact with the state, putting revenue sharing in jeopardy. The 25-year-old compacts give the tribes exclusive rights to operate slots in the state in return for 25 percent of the revenues. But the threat of revenue being drained off by casinos in Massachusetts may have moved the tribes on the issue.
The issue came up because both casinos have seen significant declines in revenue in recent years and more are expected as the three casino resorts and one slots parlor in Massachusetts come on line. The best year for tribal casino revenues in Connecticut was 2007, shortly before the Great Recession, when both tribal casinos brought in $430 million. Projections for this year are $267 million.
Amann is not dropping the issue and says he will continue to lobby lawmakers. Commenting on Duff’s assessment of the economy, he said, “With all due respect to the senator, he paints a rosy picture of the economy, but we are looking at deficits. It’s about jobs. It’s about revenue. It’s about protecting Connecticut revenues.” He estimates that 4,000 jobs are in jeopardy. He added, “In Massachusetts, they want to clean our clock.”
Last week he told the General Assembly’s Public Safety Committee that Shoreline Star is ready to go. “They have been licensed facilities for almost four decades, they are zoned for gaming and they have adequate parking. The capital expense to the state and to our native tribes would be zero.”
He added that his client and others have been talking with the tribes. “They’re conversations. I won’t call them negotiations,” he said. “For us to do nothing is unacceptable.”
He suggested dividing the revenues among the OTB facilities, the state, the tribes and the host communities.
Rep. David Alexander, a supporter of more slots, said, “The state of Connecticut is in competition. We need to do all we can.” He added, I’m not in favor of casino expansion, but we have to realize that the state has to stay competitive.”
Rep. Peggy Sayers, quoted by the Hartford Courant, agreed: “We need to be pro-active and get this before the Boston and Springfield casinos are built,” she said. Sayers has proposed a bill that would allow slots at OTBs within five miles of the state’s two Interstates: 91 and 95.
Like Amman, she notes that the OTB facilities are ready to go. “They’re already licensed,” she said last week. “There’s one in New Haven, there’s one in Bridgeport, and the one at Bradley in Windsor Locks, so to add something there would not be that difficult.”
Former Congressman Bob Steele, who opposes more slots, declared last week, “Slot machine casinos create almost no new jobs; they’re low income jobs. This whole thing is exactly the wrong way to go.”
Other gaming expansion plans have failed to gain traction in the Nutmeg State. A law that would have legalized bingo-like keno games was part of the budget of Governor Dannel P. Malloy, only to be abandoned by lawmakers the following year.
Before that Governor M. Jodi Rell’s proposal to legalize keno was rejected by the legislative. In the 1990s an effort to build a casino in Bridgeport also failed to gain approval.
Despite Duff’s pronouncement that the issue is dead this year, other lawmakers say that the session isn’t over until June and that they intend to bring up the proposal again.
In a separate but related development, despite, or perhaps because of the decline in revenues the Mohegan Tribe last week announced that it will be issuing $123 million in bonds to help finance a 400-room hotel next to the existing casino resort in Uncasville.
This would be the resort’s second hotel. The tribe has been discussing the idea since 2008, when the financial collapse forced them to abandon a much larger project dubbed Project Sunburst. The project included a second casino, which has been left out of the revised project.
