Neighbor News
Tribes Get Best of State and Local Towns in East Windsor Deal, Taxpayers Get Short End
Substantially higher payments were offered in Massachusetts to state, host community and neighboring communities.
Citing economic analyses to be shared with state legislators on Thursday, MGM officials said today that the current no-bid, non-competitive process is much better for the Mashantucket Pequot and Mohegan Tribes than for the State of Connecticut and its taxpayers. Economist Nicholas Perna will testify that “it is quite likely that both the State and the community would have been offered larger financial and other benefits if a competitive process had been used.”
As proof of the impact of a competitive process, in Massachusetts, when Mohegan was seeking a casino license there, the Tribe agreed to substantially higher payments not only to the state, but millions more in annual payments to both host and neighboring communities, numbers which far exceed their proposed deal in East Windsor. (see accompanying chart)
“Senate Bill No. 957 deprives the state of an opportunity to even entertain competing proposals for a Commercial Casino. Consequently the State would not have the ability to compare proposals on jobs, guaranteed annual payments, or even financial support required to address the local infrastructure required to support the planned commercial casino,” said MGM Senior Vice President and Legal Counsel Uri Clinton.
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“The numbers tell the story. MMCT is supporting Senate Bill No. 957 and clinging to a closed process because it’s best for their bottom line, not the state’s best interest,” Clinton added. “MMCT is doing everything possible to block competition, even if competition is how Connecticut maximizes economic benefits and jobs.”
When the Mohegan Tribe was seeking a casino in Massachusetts, they were willing to pay much more – because it was a competitive process. The face value of benefits promised was $189 million for Revere and surrounding communities and $60 million for Palmer and surrounding communities, compared with a lowly $7 million for East Windsor from MMCT, according to publically available data (see accompanying chart).
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Early this year, MMCT announced that a “detailed economic analysis” had been completed, which led to East Windsor being declared one of MMCT’s finalists for a commercial casino. However, when the economic terms of its agreement with East Windsor were made public, it became clear that the economic analysis conducted by MMCT could not have taken into account the interest of the State of Connecticut.
