{"id":26117,"date":"2014-11-16T10:06:41","date_gmt":"2014-11-16T18:06:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=26117"},"modified":"2014-11-16T10:12:03","modified_gmt":"2014-11-16T18:12:03","slug":"mohegan-sun-looks-expansion-connecticut-takes-massachusetts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/mohegan-sun-looks-expansion-connecticut-takes-massachusetts\/","title":{"rendered":"Mohegan Sun Looks to Expansion as Connecticut Takes on Massachusetts"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Mohegan
The Mohegan Sun Casino in Uncasville, Connecticut will fight losing customers to neighboring Massachusetts. (Image: kickingdesigns.com)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Mohegan Sun is now steeling itself to take on Massachusetts, rather than beating a humiliating retreat after losing the bid for an east Massachusetts casino license this year.<\/p>\n

The Sun wants to build a new casino in north Connecticut to compete with the $800 million MGM Resorts casino scheduled to open across the border in Springfield in 2017.<\/p>\n

The Springfield casino<\/a> is expected to derive a third of its visitors from Connecticut, putting Mohegan Sun in an offensive position to keep its land gambling population from bleeding across the state border to Massachusetts.<\/p>\n

Sixty percent \u00a0of Massachusetts residents voted in favor of retaining casino gaming following a public referendum<\/a> in this year’s midterm elections, meaning that MGM and Wynn Resorts, the latter of which was granted the east Massachusetts license at the expense of Mohegan Sun, are now free to push ahead with their projects.<\/p>\n

And while Connecticut may have been praying that voters would choose to \u201crepeal the deal,\u201d the state must now act to protect its casino industry from potentially devastating competition.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe competition is on. The competition has begun,\u201d chairman of the Mohegan tribe Kevin Brown declared in an interview with the Connecticut Mirror<\/em> this week.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis isn\u2019t a new conversation, however, it is certainly a revived conversation,\u201d\u00a0he added. “We need to do something in the face of the development of Massachusetts gaming. To do otherwise would be short-sighted on our part.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201c[The Massachusetts casino developers] certainly have not been shy about saying they are not ones to lose any more revenue from Massachusetts gamers going to Connecticut,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Game on, apparently.<\/p>\n

Financial Peril<\/h2>\n

Moody’s Investment Analysts warned last month that Mohegan Sun could face \u201cfinancial peril\u201d after losing the East Massachusetts casino license. Had it won, said gaming analyst Keith Foley, its financial situation “would have improved materially.” The Mohegan Sun Casino in Uncasville is highly leveraged, he added, and could face significant debt repayment just as the two proposed Massachusetts casinos open their doors for business in 2017.<\/p>\n

Both Connecticut casino resorts, Mohegan Sun and Foxwoods, were hit hard by the global economic downturn of 2008 and are over $1 billion in debt.<\/p>\n

Difficult Process<\/h2>\n

While expansion may be in the cards, it will likely be a long and difficult legislative process. Connecticut has sanctioned casinos in its southeast since the early nineties in return for a portion of the profits. Only the Mohegans and the Mashantucket Pequots, who run Foxwoods, are permitted to operate casino gambling in the state, with the provision that no other entity may do so.<\/p>\n

This means that expansion would be a complex legal procedure, requiring the approval of the legislature, the governor and both tribes.<\/p>\n

However, Brown told the Connecticut Mirror<\/em> that he had had some \u201cpoint-to-point conversations\u201d with Mashantucket Pequots\u2019 tribal chairman Rodney Butler on the issue and that \u201cboth agree that these (discussions) are a necessary move.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Representative Peggy Sayers, who recently oversaw a legislative task force studying regional gaming competition, concluded that Connecticut \u201cmust take bold and immediate action to protect and expand our state\u2019s gaming industry.”<\/p>\n

And Representative Stephen Dargan, leader of the panel that oversees gaming regulation issues in Connecticut, said this week that he wants to hold a hearing later in the month on how to protect the industry.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mohegan Sun is now steeling itself to take on Massachusetts, rather than beating a humiliating retreat after losing the bid for an east Massachusetts casino license this year. The Sun wants to build a new casino in north Connecticut to compete with the $800 million MGM Resorts casino scheduled to open across the border in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":26126,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,13,18],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nMohegan Sun Looks to Expansion as Connecticut Takes on Massachusetts<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"After losing a spot as a licensee in Massachusetts, Mohegan Sun chairman says the Connecticut casino industry must expand to fight the competition.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/mohegan-sun-looks-expansion-connecticut-takes-massachusetts\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Mohegan Sun Looks to Expansion as Connecticut Takes on Massachusetts\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"After losing a spot as a licensee in Massachusetts, Mohegan Sun chairman says the Connecticut casino industry must expand to fight the competition.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/mohegan-sun-looks-expansion-connecticut-takes-massachusetts\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-11-16T18:06:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-11-16T18:12:03+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/Mohegan-Sun-fights-back-in-Connecticut.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"576\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Casino.org Staff Writer\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Casino.org Staff Writer\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/mohegan-sun-looks-expansion-connecticut-takes-massachusetts\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/mohegan-sun-looks-expansion-connecticut-takes-massachusetts\/\",\"name\":\"Mohegan Sun Looks to Expansion as Connecticut Takes on Massachusetts\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/mohegan-sun-looks-expansion-connecticut-takes-massachusetts\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/mohegan-sun-looks-expansion-connecticut-takes-massachusetts\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/Mohegan-Sun-fights-back-in-Connecticut.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-11-16T18:06:41+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-11-16T18:12:03+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/8c48bf89dc86da77b4d856c7b3b78d77\"},\"description\":\"After losing a spot as a licensee in Massachusetts, Mohegan Sun chairman says the Connecticut casino industry must expand to fight the competition.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/mohegan-sun-looks-expansion-connecticut-takes-massachusetts\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/mohegan-sun-looks-expansion-connecticut-takes-massachusetts\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/mohegan-sun-looks-expansion-connecticut-takes-massachusetts\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/Mohegan-Sun-fights-back-in-Connecticut.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/Mohegan-Sun-fights-back-in-Connecticut.jpg\",\"width\":1024,\"height\":576,\"caption\":\"The Mohegan Sun Casino in Uncasville, Connecticut will fight losing customers to neighboring Massachusetts. 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