The delayed East Windsor Casino in Connecticut should finally break ground later this year. According to tribal leaders, the ground-breaking ceremony should happen during the fall. The new casino, which is a joint operation between the Mashantucket Pequot and Mohegan Sun tribes, was delayed by several months, but everything looks set for construction to begin.
The East Windsor Casino in Connecticut is set to begin construction in the Fall. This follows delays caused by the DOI.
East Windsor Hopes to Counter MGM Springfield
The two tribes received approval from the state of Connecticut to build the East Windsor casino last year. The casino should cost between $300 and $400 million and will be home to around 2000 slot machines and 150 table games. The entire point behind the new casino was to counter the MGM Springfield casino in Massachusetts.
The Springfield casino will open later this week and is a $960 million property located just five miles north of the state border between Connecticut and Massachusetts. MGM Springfield will have 2200 slots and 120 table games, along with a hotel, spa, concert hall, various restaurants, and a movie theatre.
East Windsor Delayed by DOI
The East Windsor casino will be built 13 miles south of the Springfield casino, in the hope of preventing residents of Connecticut from spending their money on gambling at the MGM property. This could reduce the amount of money gambled in Connecticut and reduce the amount of taxes paid to the state. Tax revenue from gambling has dropped significantly over the years, as more casinos have been built in neighboring states. In 2007, Connecticut received $430 million in tax, but this dropped to $267 million in 2017.
Construction of the East Windsor casino was ready to begin in March. However, the tribes and state had requested formal permission from the Department of Interior (DOI). The DOI failed to respond, despite have a legal obligation to do so. On the 1st of June, it was determined that the DOI’s failure to respond could be considered approval for the casino.
