MMCT Venture is currently looking for a new place for a potential Connecticut casino that they plan on having developed. They had previously extended the duration for towns to come up with a proposal if they wanted the casino to be placed in their region, which gave towns another month to submit. Now the MMCT Venture is reporting that they have received five proposals for the new casino site.
MMCT is being reported as being a cooperative project between the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation as well as the Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority. They are working towards developing their third casino in Connecticut, and are looking to do so somewhere along Interstate 91 within the northern region of the state. Before extending the duration for bids the group had already received three offers including – East Hartford, Windsor Locks, and Hartford. Following the extension the group received two more additional offers from East Windsor and South Windsor.
As of right now the Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority currently owns and runs the Mohegan Sun casino that is located in Uncasville, meanwhile the Mashantucket Tribet owns the Foxwoods Resort Casino that was built near Ledyard. If the state passes a bill that is going to legalize the commercialization of the gambling industry within the state, they two groups plan on building a new casino at the cost of about $200 million to $300 million along the Massachusetts border. This is likely resulting from the decision for the $950 million casino that is being built by MGM Resorts that is expected to pull a lot of competition for the current casinos. The MGM Resorts casino is expecting to open their doors in about two years during the mid-summer of 2018. It is going to feature a massive number of slots at the sweet tune of 3,000, with 75 gaming tables. This enormous casino and resort is going to be a big hit, which is definitely going to damper the industry in neighboring Connecticut.
The reason that some regions might want to host the new casino would be the revenue that would be brought in for the local government. Casinos that are hosted in cities have to pay a steep tax to the local area, which allows for the budget managers to put this money towards community programs and infrastructure. The downside, which is why some areas haven’t put up a bid, is that local casinos sometimes aren’t favored by the community who would have a bad outlook on gambling in the community and they also have been cited as increasing crime and addiction issues. These are costs that the government takes in, but these are usually insignificant compared to that taxes earned.
The time hasn’t run out quite yet for any other places that want to put up a proposal, and a decision won’t be picked for quite some time. This means that there is a possibility that more than five municipals will be in the mix before the decision process begins.
