The Mashantucket Pequot and Mohegan tribal nations have rejected Gov. Ned Lamont’s pitch for a grand bargain that would legalise sports betting and place a tribal-owned casino in Bridgeport without litigation from MGM.
“They are not willing to walk away from the Tribal Winds Casino in East Windsor, a project where they’ve invested nearly $20 million,” Andrew Doba, a spokesman for MMCT, a joint venture of the Mashantucket Pequot and Mohegan tribal nations said.
“This is a totally separate, unrelated issue from the ongoing negotiations with the tribes on Connecticut’s gaming future,” Ryan Drajewicz, the governor’s chief of staff said.
The tribes and the administration are at a crossroads. The tribes have yet to obtain financing for the $300 million project and they still are fighting local zoning appeals that they say are financed by MGM.
Rodney Butler, the chairman of the Mashantucket Pequots, said that the zoning fights and a need to reassemble a design and construction team after the long delay have slowed construction, but he hoped work would begin in the fall.
The delay in construction should not be interpreted as the tribes ever considering abandoning the project as part of a negotiation with the administration over sports betting.
