Despite the appearance that nothing much is happening right now—the Mashantucket Pequot and Mohegan tribes say the $300 million East Windsor casino designed to blunt the impact of the MGM Springfield on Connecticut’s gaming revenues is moving forward.
Through their joint authority MMCT Venture the tribes, which operate Foxwoods Resort Casino and the Mohegan Sun, have hired a project manager, architecture and marketing firms and set a schedule to demolish the defunct cinema that will make way for the satellite, according to spokesman Andrew Doba.
Without a doubt the project has fallen behind the timetable it originally announced of opening before the $960 million MGM Springfield does this fall.
Doba said that is because they want to do it right the first time. “We’re putting in the time and care necessary for a successful venture. This means a lot to both tribes and we want to get it right,” he said.
The tribes and the state of Connecticut are also continuing their lawsuit against the Bureau of Indian Affairs to try to force it to issue a ruling on the amendment to the tribal state gaming compacts that all parties feel is needed to allow the project to begin.
Meanwhile MGM, which has fought the satellite casino every inch of the way, and maybe at the root of the Interior Department’s refusal so far to rule on the amendments, is outspending the tribes on lobbying the legislature and other state officials as it also pursues its own casino proposal in Bridgeport.
There is no indication that state officials are interested in such a casino, but that didn’t stop MGM from spending $3.8 million in TV and radio ads and lobbying efforts last year. That’s compared to $1.2 million that the tribes spent jointly on lobbying.
