relying on a gaming revenue<\/a>. The tribes share 25 percent of their slot take at their Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun casinos with the state. That equated to $430 million in 2007, but just $267 million last year.<\/p>\n<\/div>\nShelton Mayor Mark Lauretti said he supports MGM’s plan, as he believes any company that’s ready to spend almost three-quarters of a billion dollars without government subsidies should be welcomed with open arms. He believes a Bridgeport casino would “clean up blight” and create much-needed jobs.<\/p>\n
Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton said there isn’t enough adequate data on whether tribal or commercial casinos are in the people’s best interest, but agrees that gaming expansion could be beneficial.<\/p>\n
Casino Issue Backstory <\/b><\/h2>\n
Last fall, Malloy signed the East Windsor casino bill that allows the state’s two tribes to build the satellite with roughly 2,000 slot machines and 100 table games. The law was passed in order to keep gaming revenue from flowing across the state border into Massachusetts where MGM Springfield is set to open later this year.<\/p>\n
The legislation is contingent on the state receiving formal approval from the US Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Indian Affairs. To date, no such ratification has been received.<\/strong><\/p>\nMGM Resorts, looking to protect the largest monopoly on gaming possible surrounding its $960 million integrated casino resort, unsuccessfully sued Connecticut on grounds that it failed to hold a competitive bidding process in authorizing what it believes is commercial gaming. The casino heavyweight later unveiled its Bridgeport plans, which supporters of the tribal venue called nothing more than a bluff and stall tactic.<\/p>\n
But some state lawmakers, especially those representing Bridgeport and nearby areas, have since backed legislation to withdrawal the East Windsor bill<\/a> and open a commercial bidding process.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Nine Connecticut Republicans squared off in their fourth gubernatorial debate on Wednesday night, and the issue of gambling took center stage. With a complicated legal juggernaut facing lawmakers regarding an approved tribal satellite casino on non-sovereign land and a powerful commercial gaming company looking to build in Bridgeport, the candidates largely agreed that some sort […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":74594,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,18,61,13592],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
Connecticut Republican Gubernatorial Candidates Talk Casinos<\/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