HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) - Attorney General George Jepsen made it clear Monday his office continues to have concerns about the legal consequences of Connecticut pursing legislation allowing a new tribal casino in East Windsor.
In a letter, the Democrat said the risks associated with authorizing the state’s first casino on nontribal reservation land “are not insubstantial and cannot be mitigated with confidence.”
Jepsen’s letter comes as the General Assembly’s Public Safety and Security Committee faces a Thursday deadline to act on the bill. A spokesman for the two tribes contends the letter does not address the actual legislation pending in the General Assembly, which he said includes language that should ease concerns raised by the attorney general.
Earlier this month, Democratic Gov. Dannel P. Malloy asked Jepsen to weigh in on legislation requested by the Mashantucket Pequot and Mohegan tribes allowing them to build a satellite casino in a former movie theater complex along Interstate 91. The tribes say the project, which would be jointly owned and operated, is needed to help blunt competition from the $950 million MGM Resorts International casino being built in Springfield, Massachusetts, and protect jobs at their existing Mohegan Sun and Foxwoods Resort Casino in southeastern Connecticut.
In particular, Malloy asked Jepsen for his opinion on Connecticut’s chances of winning a lawsuit if the legislation is challenged on constitutional grounds, as well as any potential impact on the state’s existing revenue-sharing deal with the tribes. Connecticut receives 25 percent of the slot machine revenues generated at Mohegan Sun and Foxwoods.
Jepsen, who raised similar concerns about the project in a 2015 letter, said it’s difficult to predict the outcome of any constitutional challenges. Also, he cautioned how the new secretary of the U.S. Department of Interior, who would have to approve any amendment to the tribes’ revenue-sharing agreement with the state, could potentially alter the payment arrangement to the state’s detriment.
Andrew Doba, a spokesman for the tribes, said people who spent their careers at the Department of Interior’s Bureau of Indian Affairs have assured them the proposed changes to the agreement “will not adversely affect anything.” But Jepsen said there’s no guarantee the department, under a new administration, will follow past practice. He added how President Donald Trump, during his years as a casino developer, “was actively involved in pursuing casino gaming interests in Connecticut.”
Uri Clinton, senior vice president and legal counsel at MGM, said Jepsen’s letter reiterates his concerns from 2015 about how the state risks “hundreds of millions in annual revenue if it proceeds with a commercial casino, even if that casino is to be operated by the two federally-recognized tribes.”
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