If the Mashantucket Pequots and the Mohicans feel they’ve been screwed they’re right to do so. Connecticut legislators, in a classic white-man-speaks-with-forked-tongue move, are proposing to tear up the bill that gave Mohegan Sun and Foxwoods Resort 
Casino a satellite casino in East Windsor. In its place, a bill would be introduced to breach the current gaming compact by designating Bridgeport as the site for a third casino and opening bidding to all comers. This is MGM Resorts International‘s wet dream. Rationalized state Rep. Chris Rosario (D), “The process will let every developer with an interest — whether it is MGM or the tribes or anyone else — give it their best shot. It is a process that is consistent with industry best practices, and it’s best for Connecticut.” Rhapsodized state Rep. Ezequiel Santiago (D), “With its strategic location right in the center of the transportation hub including highway, rail, bus and ferry, Bridgeport is uniquely poised to become an entertainment center that can attract patrons far and near.”
While Gov. Dannel Malloy (D) withheld comment, his spokeswoman allowed that “we have consistently stated that we should aim to prioritize job retention and growth while also ensuring that we don’t violate our state’s 
existing agreements.” So how do you do that without juicing Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun into the new casino, so as not to “violate [your] state’s existing agreements”? Perhaps aware that they’re endangering $250 million in guaranteed revenue, the bill’s sponsors said they had a way of preserving the compact while still opening the Nutmeg State to competition. They didn’t say how. MGM, for its part, said the state ought to be extracting more revenue from the tribes, regardless, arguing that the 25-year-old compacts are antiquated.
This is a lot of double talk. Connecticut has made a deal with its tribes and should honor it.
* Rivers Casino in Schenectady is marking its first full year of operation and it’s a classic glass-half-full/glass-half-empty scenario. Let’s quaff the half-full portion first. Rivers players won big, with $26 million in jackpots being awarded, The State of New York also 
benefited to the tune of $41 million in tax dollars. Foot traffic was 1.5 million people, which kept 1,100 Rivers employees in jobs. As for the empty half of the glass, the casino’s gross of $138.5 million was well short of its worst-case scenario: $181 million. Taxes were forecast to be between $66.5 million and $83 million. And foot traffic was half of what was projected, best case. Upstate New York’s new casinos seem to have drawn up their revenue forecasts in a vacuum, regardless of competition. They’re getting an expensive education.
* If you own a casino in Pennsylvania, you can start applying for an online gambling license. Given the punitive tax rate on i-slots (54%) one wonders how many takers there will be for the 13 i-casino licenses and the (less lucrative) 13 i-poker ones.
