Although the bill authorizing Connecticut’s Mohegan and Mashantucket Pequot tribes to operate a casino in East Windsor was passed earlier this year, one provision in the bill has not yet been met: unambiguous approval by the Department of the Interior of a change to the state tribal gaming compact.
The bill was approved by the legislature and signed by the governor with the express intent of giving the tribes an instrument to blunt the effects on their bottom line of the MGM Springfield that is slated to open in less than a year 14 miles across the state line in Massachusetts.
The provision requiring assent to the new compact was included to protect the state from the possibility that allowing the tribes to operate a commercial casino would violate the exclusivity clause of the old compact that guarantees the tribes exclusivity against competition by a commercial casino—in return for paying 25 percent of the profits to the state.
The idea of getting that assent is the fear that the tribes themselves operating a commercial casino could be considered breaking their exclusivity guarantee. Including that guarantee was a key factor in overcoming opposition to the bill by some lawmakers.
To push the bill through the tribes had obtained preliminary opinions from the BIA before the Trump administration took office. But then, in September, a letter from Trump official Michael Black, acting assistant secretary of Indian affairs for the department, i.e. the director of the BIA sent a letter that is ambiguous to say the least.
MGM gleefully contends that the letter does not meet the legal standard required.
The tribes say it does. But the problem is that the Connecticut law requires that such approval be published within 90 days of the compact amendment being approved. To meet that requirement the approval must be published by early November.
Meanwhile the BIA is keeping mum about what it plans to do.
The September letter said, “We return the amendment to you to maintain the status quo as action on the amendment is premature and likely unnecessary.”
So far, no one has asked state Attorney General George Jepsen to venture an opinion as to whether Black’s letter meets the law—and the tribes can go forward building the $300 million casino they want to build.
Apparently two Nevada senators (MGM is based in Nevada) and one congressman have apparently sent letters to the BIA pressuring it to hold off on giving the go ahead to the tribes.
The tribes could ask the legislature to reconsider the law and amend it—but that is considered unlikely. Meanwhile, the tribes’ chances from getting the drop on the Springfield casino’s opening appear to be getting more remote by the day.
