ToCasino.net Online Casino

The tribal chiefs and gaming bosses of Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun brought their message about building a Hartford-area casino to Hartford on Monday, and the byword is this: It's urgent, with 9,300 jobs at stake, but it's not a knee-jerk reaction.

"This is about allowing an industry to remain competitive," said Kevin P. Brown, chairman of the Mohegan Tribal Council, at a presentation sponsored by the MetroHartford Alliance. "It's not a last-ditch effort, it's a smart move."

The move he's talking about is a plan very much in flux, under debate by lawmakers, to sanction as many as three new casinos to be run by the tribes — at least one in the corridor between Hartford and Enfield to compete against an $800 million MGM gambling resort under construction in Springfield.

Naturally, Connecticut's two tribes want to keep whatever gaming dollars they can after MGM opens in 2017.

They say that by 2019, MGM and casinos set to open in New York and elsewhere in Massachusetts would shift $703 million in gaming and other revenue out of Connecticut, cost the state as many as 9,300 direct and indirect jobs, including 5,800 casino employees, and lower the state's take from slot machines by $100 million a year, from the current level of $280 million.

"They're certainly going to go after us with a bull's-eye on our backs," said Felix Rappaport, the CEO of Foxwoods Resort Casino. "It's really about jobs and the economic impact for the entire state."

A northern Connecticut casino could help but would be no panacea.

The promise and the threat of jobs is, of course, the argument used by all businesses looking for anything from the state, ever. Monday's message, that this is not just a southwestern Connecticut issue, is true — as the tribal chairmen and gaming executives made the point that they employ people from almost all of Connecticut's cities and towns. Rappaport said that Foxwoods spends $120 million a year on 650 in-state vendors.

The state has an even more direct stake because it's essentially a partner with Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun, receiving 25 percent of slot machine revenues. That's not going well, as Connecticut's take has slipped from a high of $420 million in 2006, owing to recession-driven declines as well as competition in surrounding states.

But the questions are many. How much could a Hartford-area casino, even a successful one, staunch the bleeding? How many of those dollars and jobs are leaving even if we do sanction more gambling?

We don't have good estimates yet, but Brown and Rodney Butler, chairman of the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Council, said a report is coming this week on the "recapture rate" that a Hartford-area casino would pull back from among would-be MGM customers. One-third is a good guess, Brown said.

A report last week by Moody's Investors Service said that a Hartford area casino "falls short of providing a broader solution that would help the Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun casinos," prompting Brown to say Monday that, yes, the Mohegan council is looking at many options, including this one.

A new casino would also take business from nearby food and entertainment businesses, and from Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun. And it would take money out of the pockets of mostly Connecticut residents even as it saved jobs.

"Are we going to cannibalize ourselves? It's something we've thought about significantly," said Bobby Soper, president of the Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority. "We would rather be our own competitor and keep those visits, keep those jobs, in the state of Connecticut."

Anthony Ravosa, a Glastonbury public affairs consultant who holds an option on the long-vacant Showcase Cinemas in East Hartford and hopes to see a casino there, said a 1,000-machine operation would take only a small percentage from the downstate casinos. His consultant estimated a 2.6 percent slot machine loss from Mohegan Sun and 1.9 percent from Foxwoods.

Ravosa sees a big market in the people who fill 2.7 million hotel room-nights a year in the Hartford area.

Butler argues that it should be an easy call for the legislature and Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, who has been lukewarm about expanded gambling. "We're talking about no state investment to preserve thousands of jobs," Butler said.

Again, it's unclear that a new casino could preserve all that many of the threatened jobs. Part of the question is about whether casino gambling is at a saturation point in New England, or can still grow.

"For the region, I think that there's a zero-sum gain," said Mark Hichan, a lawyer for Hinckley Allen in Boston, who represents gaming clients. "It appears that there is a finite number of gamblers."

Rappaport told Hichan that gaming resorts have learned how to derive ever more of their revenue from non-gambling sources such as retail, restaurants and events.

That's happening now in a gambling establishment in Windsor Locks. The Bradley Teletheater, Off-Track Betting outlet, with a 10,000-square-foot Bobby V's bar and restaurant, has more than 100 employees. If there's going to be a casino expansion in the area, it should be there, said Ted Taylor, president of Sportech Ventures, which runs it.

It's a complex picture with little time to ponder, as the key benefit of a local casino would be to launch ahead of MGM, which is expected to open in late 2017. It seems likely that many, perhaps most, of the threatened jobs will eventually be lost no matter what, unless we approve a huge new casino with 2,500 slot machines — which would be a bad idea.

Brown, the Mohegan chairman, said there's no reason to forsake Hartford gaming in favor of a boost from other industries, as gambling critics have suggested.

"We are not talking about the future of the state of Connecticut," Brown said. "This is about the here and now."

Copyright © 2015, Hartford Courant