Rotarians Hear One View of Casinos

Connecticut novelist, Robert H. Steele visited the Milford Rotary Club this week and shared his view about casinos as told in his book-The Curse, Big time gambling’s seduction of a small New England town.

  Steele represented southeastern Connecticut in Congress prior to the arrival of Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun, and lived next to the Mashantucket Pequot Reservation in Ledyard, Connecticut from 1978–98, providing him a front row seat for one of the most remarkable continuing stories in the state’s history which lead to his writing of The Curse. Steele noted that his proximity to the events and his years served in elected position and a local businessman, gave him the unique advantage of seeing the issues, the process and the outcome from multi viewpoints.

During his presentation, Steele shared his front row view of how two Connecticut Indian tribes, in the 1990’s, built the world’s two biggest gambling casinos in the southeastern corner of the state, resulting in what has been termed a “gambling Chernobyl.

 The two Connecticut casinos, Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun, were part of a first wave of national casino construction that has brought the total number of U.S. casinos to nearly 1,000, including some 460 Indian casinos in 28 states. 

 His recently published novel, The Curse, begins in 1637 with the massacre of the Pequot Indians and a curse delivered by a Pequot sachem to the young English soldier who is about to kill him. The story then jumps 350 years as the soldier’s thirteenth-generation descendant, Josh Williams, becomes embroiled in a battle to stop a newly-minted Indian tribe from building a third casino that threatens his town and ancestral home.

  The lure of easy money drives everyone, from the tribe’s chief to a shadowy Miami billionaire, venal politicians, and Providence mobsters, while a small, quintessential New England town must choose between preserving its character or accepting an extraordinary proposal that will change it forever.

Steele noted that he wrote the book as a novel because he thinks telling a good story is often the most effective way to convey universal truths about a compelling social issue like casino gambling.

  Steele is vice chairman of an international retail-marketing agency and has been a director of numerous companies. A graduate of Amherst College and Columbia University, he served in the CIA and Congress, and was a candidate for governor of Connecticut. He lives with his wife in Essex, Connecticut.

Following the post dinner question and answer session, Steele autographed books for anyone interested in buying one.

At some point in the near future Rotary will host a speaker with an opposing view.

 The Milford Rotary Club meets every Tuesday in Medway at Restaurant 45.