In a major blow for an expansion of gambling, the Senate majority leader said Monday that a proposal to legalize slot machines outside two Indian casinos is dead for this year.
Senator Bob Duff, a key player who controls the agenda with the Senate president pro tem in the Democratic-dominated Senate, said the proposal will not come to a vote in the chamber.
"While this will be a difficult budget season, Connecticut's economy continues to recover,'' Duff said Monday. "The unemployment rate is down, and we continue to grow jobs. Former Speaker [Jim] Amann's idea of putting slot machines at off-track betting sites near the Massachusetts border is not the answer, and any expansion of gaming needs to be done in consultation with the tribes.''
Duff added, "With that said, this proposal will not be raised in the Senate.''
Tribes: Plans To Expand Slots Would Invalidate Revenue Deal
Tribes: Plans To Expand Slots Would Invalidate Revenue Deal
Duff's comments came after two spokesmen for the Mashantucket Pequot and Mohegan tribes told The Hartford Courant in interviews last week that the proposal would violate their revenue-sharing compacts with the state.
Under the compacts, the tribes have the exclusive right to operate slot machines in Connecticut. In return for that right, the casinos have agreed to pay 25 percent of their slot revenues to the state under a deal crafted more than 25 years ago by then-Gov. Lowell P. Weicker, Jr.
The issue of slots came up again this year because major competition in the surrounding states has been cutting deeply into the revenues that the state receives from the two casinos. Slot revenues peaked at $430 million in the 2007 fiscal year - before the deep national recession that was prompted by financial failures that included the collapse of the Lehman Brothers investment banking firm and the subsequent major downturn on Wall Street in 2008 and 2009.
Since the peak, slot revenues have fallen to a projected $267 million in the current fiscal year.
But the future is even more bleak as state officials project that the slot revenues will fall further to only $191 million during the 2018 fiscal year - after the $800 million, state-of-the-art MGM Resorts International casino opens just over the Enfield border in Springfield, Massachusetts.
With that competition on the horizon, Amann and some local legislators pushed for a plan to allow slot machines at the off-track betting parlors at the Bradley Teletheatre in Windsor Locks, Sports Haven in New Haven, and Shoreline Star in Bridgeport.
Amann served as House Speaker during the casino heyday, and he returned to the Capitol complex last week as a lobbyist for the former Shoreline Star dog track in Bridgeport that is seeking to gain slots.
Foxwoods, Mohegan Sun Reverse Wagering Trend In December
Foxwoods, Mohegan Sun Reverse Wagering Trend In December
Amann said Monday that he respects Duff's position because he made similar decisions when he served as House majority leader and then as Speaker of the House. But Amann said the battle is not over, and he will continue conversations about the bill because the stakes are high.
"In all due respect to the senator, he paints a rosy picture of the economy, but we are looking at deficits,'' Amann said in an interview. "It's about jobs. It's about revenues. It's about protecting Connecticut revenues.''
Despite Duff's comments, Amann said, "It's premature at this point. There's a lot of interest in the bill. It's a win, win, win for everybody. ... I respect the senator's decision as a leader, but I think he's wrong not to look further into it. ... In Massachusetts, they want to clean our clock.''
Nationwide, about 70 percent of parimutuels have converted to slot machines, including Yonkers Raceway and horse tracks in Florida, Amann said.
A longtime Milford resident, Amann testfied at a public hearing last week that "Milford jai alai was a very vibrant facility'' until competition from the casinos put it "out of business.''
cComments
"the stakes are high" - for Amman and his clients. Expanding gaming within the state will only further weaken the Indian casinos and reduce their employment numbers.
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"This is a fight for the survival of Mohegan Sun, Foxwoods and our parimutuels,'' Amann said. "I don't understand why there isn't more urgency on this.''
Amann told legislators that doing nothing is not an option, saying that at least one of the parimutuel outlets could shut down.
"Over 4,000 jobs are in jeopardy now,'' Amann said, adding that new slots at Yonkers Raceway and Aqueduct raceway near John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City ''have taken away a huge market from Connecticut - 35 percent.''
With major new competition in New York and Rhode Island, some legislators say that Connecticut's casino heyday has passed and is never coming back. At the peak, Mohegan Sun contributed $229 million to the state coffers, while Foxwoods Resort Casino contributed $201 million in the same year.
But by the 2013 fiscal year, the Foxwoods revenue sharing to the state had fallen to only $138.5 million - the lowest total since the 1995 fiscal year when Foxwoods and the casino phenomenon were still in their early years.
According to state statistics, the slot money received by the state grew steadily every single year from the 1993 fiscal year until 2007 - a period of massive growth and profits at Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun.
State Rep. David Alexander, an Enfield Democrat, agreed with Amann on the need for urgency, saying that residents of Enfield and surrounding towns will simply head north on Interstate 91 as soon as the new MGM casino opens in Springfield. Some lawmakers also fear that Springfield will attract concerts that would have been staged in the Nutmeg State.
"The state of Connecticut is in competition,'' said Alexander. "We need to do all we can.''
State Rep. Peggy Sayers, a Windsor Locks Democrat who has been pushing to help the Bradley Teletheater in her hometown, said Connecticut needs to act now.
"We need to be pro-active and get this before the Boston and Springfield casinos are built,'' she said.
State Rep. Stephen Dargan, a West Haven Democrat who has served for more than 20 years as co-chairman of the legislative committee that oversees gambling, said the past three proposals for increased gambling in Connecticut have all failed in the legislature.
First, a plan to legalize the bingo-like keno games was originally signed into law by Gov. Dannel P. Malloy as part of the state budget, but it was rejected the following year due to a lack of support among legislators.
Second, an earlier plan to legalize keno by Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell was dismissed by the General Assembly. Third, a proposal to build a casino in Bridgeport failed in the state Senate in the 1990s under Republican Gov. John G. Rowland.
Despite Duff's comments about the bill being dead, Dargan said he expects the issue will continue to come up.
"I don't get excited. I've been around too long,'' said Dargan, who has served in the legislature since the Weicker administration. "Discussions will continue on this issue as the session continues.''
Saying that it's only February in a session that lasts until early June, Dargan referred to spring training by adding, "Pitchers and catchers haven't even arrived yet. It's early in the season.''
Dargan said the legislature needs move cautiously and make sure that no compacts are broken with the two tribes, which are major employers in southeastern Connecticut. He said that predicting the future for casinos and slot machines can be difficult as competition explodes in neighboring states - leading to the closure of four casinos in Atlantic City, which was once the undisputed kingpin of the industry on the East Coast.
"When or where is the saturation point of gaming dollars and what do we do about it?'' Dargan asked.