EW casino gets backing
The organization sent a letter Thursday to Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke asking him to publish notice in the Federal Register of gambling compact amendments for the Mohegan and Mashantucket Pequot tribes.
The tribes have collaborated in the joint MMCT Venture to build a casino to compete with an MGM Resorts International casino in Springfield.
National Congress of American Indians President Jefferson Keel argued that federal law says that the publication of gambling contracts is not discretionary, and that the Interior secretary can only disapprove of a compact if it violates federal law.
Keel reiterated what the tribes have repeatedly said, which is that if the secretary does not take any action within 45 days, the compact shall be considered approved.
At that point, Keel said, the Interior secretary is required by law to publish notice that the compact has been approved.
Last year, the state legislature approved changes to Connecticut’s profit-sharing agreement with the tribes, setting the stage for a 200,000-square-foot facility at the former Showcase Cinemas site, where demolition already has begun.
According to the legislation, the tribes would make an initial $1 million payment to the state, which also would receive 25 percent of slot and table game revenues.
Of the state’s cut, 40 percent would go toward tourism efforts and the remaining 60 percent would be placed in the general fund.
East Windsor would receive $8.5 million in the first five years, and six nearby towns — East Hartford, Ellington, Enfield, Hartford, South Windsor, and Windsor Locks — would each receive $750,000 annually from the tribes as compensation for any impacts to those communities.
If it comes to fruition, the East Windsor casino would be the first tribal casino in the state built off reservation land, and is hoped to prevent the loss of roughly 9,300 jobs and tens of millions of dollars to the Springfield facility.
The state and the tribes are suing the Interior Department to get the department to publish the gambling contracts. The case is working its way through the federal court system.
The National Congress of American Indians is the oldest, largest, and most representative American Indian and Alaska Native organization in the country.