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By Michael Norton, STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE

BOSTON— As Massachusetts continues its years-long entry into the casino market, Connecticut lawmakers appear poised to make one of the next big moves in the regional competition for gambling industry jobs and revenue.

To protect gambling industry jobs in Connecticut, lawmakers there are now pushing a bill to allow the Mashantucket Pequot and Mohegan Tribes to jointly operate up to three new casinos. Connecticut officials appear particularly focused on competing with a resort casino licensed for Springfield, Massachusetts - MGM Springfield plans to break ground this month on an $800 million resort casino.

"Massachusetts has declared economic war on us and we're going to fight back," Connecticut Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff of Norwalk said at a press conference last week with union officials, casino workers and tribal leaders who run the Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun casinos.

Massachusetts Sen. Eric Lesser of Longmeadow, which is outside of Springfield, said Thursday afternoon that news of Connecticut's push is "just breaking," but that Springfield area officials are confident the city can withstand any competition because the casino is part of broader economic development and revitalization plans for the city.

"There's of course concern but this just focuses even more on the importance of making sure our plan is competitive," Lesser told the News Service.

The two existing Connecticut casinos - Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun - once ruled the regional gambling sectot but now face competition from Massachusetts, which passed its casino law in 2011, and from New York and Rhode Island. In addition to Springfield, Massachusetts regulators have licensed a Wynn Resorts casino planned for Everett and a slot machine facility in Plainville and are considering applicants for a third full-scale resort casino in southeastern Massachusetts.

According to Duff, state government in Connecticut has seen an erosion of its revenues from the two tribal casinos from a peak of $430 million per year to $260 million per year.

After last week's press conference, the Connecticut General Assembly's Committee on Public Safety on Tuesday held a hearing on the expanded gambling bill and heard support and opposition to the proposal.

A Connecticut Senate leadership aide told the News Service Wednesday night he expected the bill could be voted out of committee in the next couple of weeks and sent to the Senate. The aide said it was too early to tell whether the measure would advance to the governor.

Sen. Cathy Osten (D-Sprague) represents the Connecticut district that is home to Foxwoods in Ledyard and Mohegan Sun in the Uncasville section of Montville. She also appeared at last week's rally, saying, "We will not stand aside and let any other state - New York, Massachusetts or Rhode Island - take jobs away from Connecticut."

At a Massachusetts Gaming Commission meeting Thursday where regulators were considering casino plans for southeastern Massachusetts, commission chairman Stephen Crosby said Massachusetts officials and holders of gaming licenses in the Bay State realize the casino market is a "competitive situation."

Asked about the impact of another casino in Connecticut, Crosby said, "We're not concerned that that's going to materially compete with us . . . There'll be a few people who want to play the slot machines that'll go there, but we're aiming for a much bigger, much higher market, and people go, within a certain distance, people go to the best facility. And these are going to be phenomenal facilities, and the one in Springfield in particular."

Resort casinos planned in Massachusetts are "very expensive, very high quality," Crosby said, adding, "They are going to be very attractive."

Referring to Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun, Crosby said, "Both of those companies have huge capital problems. And I think they're talking about -- I've only seen the press reports -- but they're talking about really modest facilities."

Foxwoods is also looking to put down roots in Massachusetts. The city of New Bedford and KG Urban Enterprises announced Thursday they have entered into a host community agreement for a destination casino on the city's waterfront.

In testimony submitted at Tuesday's committee hearing in Connecticut, Rodney Butler, chairman of the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation, which owns Foxwoods, said he was appearing with Mohegan Tribe of Connecticut Chairman Kevin Brown to say they could work together to confront the challenges posed by more casinos competing for patrons.

Urging passage of the bill (S 1090), Butler testified, "If it is enacted the two Tribes can pool their experience and resources to construct one or more gaming facility (sic) in locations which will best encourage gamers in Connecticut not to bring their business to Massachusetts or other states but retain it at home where it will provide Connecticut jobs and limit the erosion of amounts paid to the State of Connecticut from the Tribes' existing facilities."

Brown noted the Springfield casino is five miles from the Connecticut border and emphasized that the tribes were united on the legislation despite a "long history of fierce competition."

Brown testified that Mohegan Sun "will survive" with or without the bill's passage, but said that if the bill does not pass, "We will likely be forced to right size our business and eliminate thousands of jobs, and the impact will be significant . . . "

Ronald McDaniel, the mayor of Montville, testified that almost 10 percent of his community's working population is directly employed by Mohegan Sun.
"Today, we are in crisis mode, searching for ways to position our state for the impending competition that we face in the coming months," McDaniel said. "We must act responsibly to stem the tide of patrons who will bypass Connecticut for the newly planned casinos in New York and Massachusetts."

Casino opponents are urging Connecticut lawmakers to reject the bill.

"To add more casinos to the two complexes we have now is wrong, wrong, wrong both morally and I think economically," wrote Linda Martin of New Hartford. "I come from NJ and Atlantic City is a pathetic example of what can happen to gambling venues, the poor suffer, the environment is degraded, jobs are lost which have been depended upon but are risky to begin with."

Connecticut Lottery Corporation President and CEO Anne Noble cautioned that if between one and three new casinos open in Connecticut "cannibalization of lottery sales should be expected."

Noble called for modernization of lottery operations, including "permitting the lottery to broaden its offerings and distribution channels we well as leverage the internet to promote its products in the same manner as the casinos and private sector business." Lottery games are increasingly sold over the internet, Noble said, including in Georgia, Michigan and Illinois.