MGM International wants to give Connecticut a little advice about siting its proposed new casino. The gaming group has released a study which says if Connecticut put a third casino somewhere in Fairfield County, it would generate more revenue and more jobs.
A partnership between Connecticut’s two federally recognized Indian tribes is the moving force behind the plan for a third casino in Connecticut. And MGM’s casino in Springfield, which is currently under construction, is the principal target of that plan. The Mashantucket Pequot and Mohegan tribes say the Massachusetts facility, so close to Connecticut’s border, would siphon off gamblers and revenue. That’s why they’ve identified the I91 corridor as the best place for their proposed third casino, and they’re currently looking at bids from Hartford, East Hartford and Windsor Locks.
But a new report, commissioned by MGM from Oxford Economics, says a casino in, say, Bridgeport, some 80 miles from Springfield, would generate almost 5,734 jobs, while a casino near Hartford, would create 2,080. The study goes on to say that a Bridgeport facility would produce about $70 million in new revenue for the state, while the addition from a Hartford area casino would be only about $16 million a year.
Andrew Doba, the spokesman for the Connecticut tribes' partnership issued a statement saying, "it should surprise exactly no one that an MGM funded study finds that the best place to put a new casino is as far away as possible from MGM Springfield." He continued, "our goal today is the same as it was when we started this process last year - to make sure that Connecticut jobs don't migrate over the border to Massachusetts."
