ToCasino.net Online Casino

It's a high-stakes game. Connecticut's two casino operators are betting on a chance at one of three resort casinos in Massachusetts with competing development proposals ranging in cost from $800 million to more than $1 billion.

The pitches — Mohegan Sun in Western Massachusetts and Foxwoods in the Greater Boston region – have many similarities.

The two aren't competing against each other. Instead, they're up against other rival gambling titans, most with successful Las Vegas casinos.

The proposals both involve sprawling campuses in small towns away from cities and urban traffic. They offer a design and business model that has been financially successful in Connecticut for decades, albeit eroding as gaming competition proliferates in neighboring states. Both contend that they already have a loyal customer base in the Northeast.

Before the plans can be pitched to the Massachusetts Gaming Commission at the end of the year, they must have a "host community agreement" and a vote of support by residents.

But Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun are in very different competitions otherwise.

Vocal Resistance, Vocal Support

Foxwoods is embroiled in a local battle, never mind competition from two competing casino plans in the Boston area.

On Wednesday afternoon, protesters lined a suburban street in Milford, Mass., holding signs that read "No Casino" and "Keep Milford Casino Free."

The protesters were elbow to elbow with members of the Laborers' International Union of North America, LIUNA, Local 609, who held signs of support that said "More Revenue" and "More Jobs."

This is the town where Foxwoods wants to build, on a 187-acre site east of Interstate 495. Most of the Milford community is west of the highway, said David Nunes, a partner in, and chief development officer for, the Foxwoods plan. The casino site has about 1,000 acres of conservation land around it.

"We really are in an oasis, and you can replicate what the New England gambler is already used to," Nunes said. "New England gamblers are used to Foxwoods and Mohegan — these two places built out in, literally, what was considered the middle of nowhere when they were constructed. So, if you look at that and say, 'Are you giving them exactly what they experience now and enjoy?' Yes."

But Rob and Cathy Mitchell of Casino-Free Milford live on the eastern side of Interstate 495, and they're worried about many aspects of Foxwoods' plan to build nearby.

"My property values are going to take a huge hit," Cathy Mitchell said.

Traffic is a major concern, too. Foxwoods has introduced elaborate reconstruction of the exit off I-495. Protesters are worried about the town's water supply, property values, social problems, the intimate character of the town and myriad other factors.

Geri Eddins held a sign opposing the casino, too. The proliferation of gaming in New England means that new resorts in Massachusetts aren't going to be as successful as Connecticut casinos were when they were the only large-scale gaming in the region.

"We're very concerned about the over-saturation of the market," Eddins said.

Nunes, said opposition is typical for any casino development.

"This always gets viewed in a larger-than-life negative light, and then when it gets built, in every community that you've seen almost across the country, people realize it's a 24-hour business, seven days a week, and the traffic trickles in, and it doesn't come at one time. … It's not even as bad as a giant office development," Nunes said.

The project is supported by local laborers — some who live in Milford and others who don't. The Local 609 business manager for LIUNA, Chris Murphy, said about 80 of 550 laborers are out of work in his union.