BREAKING: Keno Coming to Connecticut Casinos

Keno is coming to Connecticut casinos. The Office of Policy and Management announced agreements between the state and the Mashantucket Pequot and Mohegan Tribes to allow keno at the casinos.

As part of the agreements, each tribe will receive 12.5-percent of gross operating revenues. Tribes may also operate keno within their reservation and be an authorized lottery retailer of the Connecticut Lottery Corporation.

“These agreements are the result of productive and cooperative negotiations between the state and the Mohegan and Mashantucket Pequot tribes and represents the next step forward in bringing Keno to the state,” OPM Secretary Ben Barnes said. “It has previously taken years to implement new gaming, and it is surely a credit to the tribes and the Connecticut Lottery Corporation that we should be able to begin Keno in less than a year after the bill passed. We sincerely appreciate the cooperation and hard work of all stakeholders.”

Charles F. Bunnell, Chief of Staff for External and Governmental Affairs of The Mohegan Tribal Council commented: “The Mohegan Tribal Council feels very strongly in open and productive dialogue between our two governments. The recent agreement to allow the Connecticut Lottery Corporation to offer Keno is a perfect example of that communication and our desire to find common ground.”

William L. Satti, Director of Legislative Affairs for Mashantucket Pequot stated: “We are pleased to work with the state on issues of mutual interest that ultimately will continue to allow Connecticut and the Tribal Nations’ economies to prosper.”

Keno is a game where, traditionally and under the agreement, a subset of approximately 20 winning numbers are drawn approximately every four minutes from a larger field of approximately 80 numbers, and an eligible player holding a ticket matching the numbers required for a particular spot game redeems such ticket with a licensed retailer or the lottery.

The accords re-affirm the state’s gaming compact with the tribes and were a necessary step to adhere to Public Acts 15-244 and 15-5.

Photo by tedmurphy, via flickr creative commons