EAST WINDSOR, Conn. (AP) - Promises of up to $6 million in new, local tax revenues, good-paying jobs with benefits and homegrown organizations willing to invest in the local community brought cheers from the hundreds who attended last week’s pitch for a third casino in Connecticut.
One woman at a “community conversation” in East Windsor even presented her resume to the chairmen of the Mashantucket Pequot and Mohegan tribes, saying she’s ready to work after struggling 10 years to find a full-time job.
While eager to see slot machines moved into a vacant movie theater complex right away, many who filled the East Windsor Middle School gymnasium may have to wait a while. Despite the tribes’ stepped-up efforts to build a third casino to help compete with the MGM Resorts International casino that’s expected to open in late 2018 in Springfield, Massachusetts, big challenges for the $200 million-to-$300 million project remain.
Besides not having a final location, the tribes do not yet have approval from the General Assembly to build the state’s first casino off tribal land. And it’s unclear whether there’s enough support for such legislation.
“There are so many questions,” said Republican Fairfield Sen. Tony Hwang, who is working with a nonpartisan group of churches and other organizations that oppose casino expansion, arguing the economic and social costs are too great. “The challenge is ultimately time and the obstacles and the questions that are being raised that are not being answered.”
The tribes first announced joining forces to build a new casino in early 2015, originally suggesting several satellite casinos were needed to blunt out-of-state gambling competition and protect the thousands of jobs at Foxwoods Resort Casino and Mohegan Sun in southeastern Connecticut. That proposal was later narrowed to one casino in northern Connecticut. While they had hoped to have legislative approval by now, the process was delayed as the tribes attempted to finalize a location.
They have since narrowed the list down to the old movie theater in East Windsor, a tobacco field in Windsor Locks or Bradley International Airport in Windsor Locks and are planning to push for legislation this session.
Mohegan Tribal Chairman Mark Brown said it still remains the goal to open before MGM opens its casino, but acknowledged they are “in the 11th-hour of that timeline” and it might not happen.
“All is not lost if we don’t open prior to MGM,” he assured the East Windsor crowd.
This year’s legislative session runs until June 7. While a bill has been proposed to authorize the border casino, it does not include any details, including how to address concerns raised in 2015 by Attorney General George Jepsen about how legislation granting the tribes exclusive rights to operate a casino off their reservations could face constitutional challenges. MGM, which maintains it also wants to build a casino in the state, already has a lawsuit pending that challenges this process. While that case is awaiting a decision by an appeals court, MGM isn’t expected to back down.
“We’re going to continue to advocate for a new process in Connecticut because we would like to be able to be involved,” said MGM Executive Vice President Alan Feldman.
Some lawmakers from southern Connecticut communities, including West Haven and Bridgeport, appear to agree. They’ve proposed bills that would open up the process to casinos being built in other parts of the state.
Other bills have been proposed that would require independent impact studies and local referendums be held before a casino can be sited. Republican Rep. Scott Storms, who represents both Windsor Locks and East Windsor, said he’s not attempting to delay the process. Rather, he wants to ensure all residents have an opportunity to vote on whether a casino should be built in their town. While forums like the one in East Windsor may appear overwhelmingly positive, he said some people might be too shy to speak out against the project.
“I really am concerned that everyone is not being heard,” he said. “It’s a significant event in the life of the community and the community should be fully engaged in the decision and I don’t believe that engagement happens at the town meeting.”
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