The casino giant even attempted to get an amendment added to a federal defense bill that would have prohibited Native American tribes from operating casinos in their home state outside their reservations but it was scuttled by vigilant congressman from Connecticut.<\/p>\n
\nBut the question of legality lingers, and last week Governor Malloy requested that the state AG <\/span>George Jepsen prepare a formal opinion on the legal ramifications of the proposal and to assess the likelihood of MGM successfully blocking it in the courts. <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\nSubstantial Risk<\/b><\/span><\/h2>\nSalazar\u2019s intervention on behalf of MGM, then, is well-timed. Writing in an open letter addressed to Malloy, dated March 7, he writes that the 25 percent revenue share that has existed between the state and the tribes for two decades will be threatened, despite the fact that MMCT <\/span>has proposed amendments to the agreements that would ensure the payments to the state would not stop.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\u201cUnder federal law \u2026 amendments to a tribal gaming compact require approval by the U.S. Department of Interior, which I led for five years during the Obama Administration,\u201d wrote Salazar.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\u201cBased on that experience (and on my work on Native American legal matters), I believe there is a substantial risk that the tribe\u2019s proposed amendments would not receive the requisite approval, in which case Connecticut\u2019s entitlement to the 25-percent revenue stream would likely terminate.\u201d<\/p>\n
AN MMCT spokesman was unmoved by the contents of the letter. “MGM is willing to pay anyone and everyone to stop our project from moving forward because they know our proposal is going to keep revenue and jobs in Connecticut,” he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Kenneth Salazar, US Secretary to the Interior under Barack Obama, has warned Connecticut governor Dannel Malloy over \u201clegal risks\u201d concerning the state\u2019s proposal to permit the construction of a tribal casino outside sovereign tribal lands. Salazar, who is a paid up consultant for MGM Resorts International, informed the governor that the proposed \u201csatellite\u201d casino could […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":46430,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[62,10,60,13,61],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
Former US Secretary of the Interior Salazar Warns Connecticut Over Satellite Casino<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n