HARTFORD — A bill that would legalize slot machines outside the state's two Indian casinos took a huge hit Friday when both the Mashantucket Pequot and Mohegan tribes said the plan would violate their revenue-sharing compacts with the state.

Representatives from the tribes did not testify this week when House Bill 5378 was debated at a public hearing. But spokesmen said Friday that both tribes oppose the idea of expanding gambling at offtrack betting parlors in Windsor Locks, New Haven and Bridgeport.

"The Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation's position is that HB 5378 would violate the memorandum of understanding between the State of Connecticut and the tribe,'' said spokesman William Satti. "We feel any discussions of this nature should be on a government-to-government basis with the present administration to discuss ways to protect jobs and revenue for the State of Connecticut."

The compacts with the tribes that operate Foxwoods Resort Casino and Mohegan Sun requires the casinos to pay 25 percent of their slot machine revenue to the state. The agreements have brought the state $6.5 billion since the arrival of slots in 1993. In return, the tribes have the exclusive right to operate the lucrative slot machines.

The issue of expanding slots is important because the money sent to the state from the casinos has been dropping sharply and is forecast to plummet further.

Slot revenues peaked at $430 million in the 2007 fiscal year and have since fallen to $267 million in the current fiscal year. The revenue is projected to fall to $191 million in the 2018 fiscal year as the tribes face competition in Springfield, Mass., and from places like Aqueduct in Queens, N.Y., and Yonkers Raceway in Westchester County, N.Y.

Chuck Bunnell, chief of staff for the Mohegan tribe, said that even a small number of new slots outside the casinos would knock out the entire amount of money the tribes are currently providing to the state.

"Two slot machines at Windsor Locks would violate the agreement — the whole thing,'' Bunnell said.

"One slot machine. The state has done extraordinarily well based on the exclusive right of the two tribes.''

With fast-growing competition in New York, Rhode Island and soon in Massachusetts, Bunnell said Mohegan Sun is "acutely aware'' of venues that are drawing away Connecticut customers.

"At this point in time, we have done a lot of analysis,'' Bunnell said. "It is our desire to share that data with the state so that they're fully informed and again offer our willingness to sit and work together, if that is something the state wants to do, to protect the jobs that we have created. We are not presenting a plan at this point in time.''

With a casino scheduled to open just over the state line in Springfield in 2017, some Connecticut legislators say the state needs to act to preserve thousands of jobs and millions in state revenues.

Lawmakers are pushing ahead with the proposal to allow slot machines in Windsor Locks, Bridgeport and New Haven so residents will not be tempted to gamble out of state.

The push is particularly strong in north-central Connecticut, where supporters say that slot machines would provide a boost to the Bradley Teletheater in Windsor Locks. The town of fewer than 15,000 residents has 1,500 hotel rooms because of the nearby international airport. State Rep. Peggy Sayers, a Windsor Locks Democrat, said the slots would be popular because "people fly in for meetings and frequently look for evening entertainment.''

State Rep. David Alexander, D-Enfield, said the opening of the $800 million MGM Resorts International casino in Springfield will immediately draw gamblers from Enfield and surrounding towns.

"We're bleeding money now to Rhode Island and New York, and soon to be Springfield,'' Alexander said. "We can stop some of that bleeding. We're not expanding the market. It's three isolated facilities. We can keep some revenue here, as opposed to other states.''

Sayers and Alexander supported the plan during a public hearing this week, the first step in moving a bill through the legislature.

Expansion Of Gaming 'Complicated'

But state Rep. Stephen Dargan, co-chairman for more than 20 years of the legislative committee that oversees gambling, said the tribes' opposition did not surprise him, and that the state must be careful not to break the tribal compacts.

"The expansion of gaming is complicated,'' Dargan said. "If you have someone outside the two tribes who want to do it, it complicates it. They feel they have exclusivity with the compact agreement.''

Dargan says the plans to expand slot machines to the state's three offtrack betting sites — the Bradley Teletheater, Sports Haven in New Haven, and Shoreline Star in Bridgeport, do not include the exact number of slot machines.

"I haven't seen any comprehensive plan,'' Dargan said. "There needs to be broader discussions.''

Malloy has largely stayed out of the issue, saying he would not play a "lead role'' in expanding slot machines.

"It's not something I've been actively thinking about or pursuing,'' Malloy said previously. "I don't see Connecticut doing it, but, you know, that's a legislative matter, at least initially. … I don't think that there is a consensus in Connecticut that people want a lot more gaming.''

Former House Speaker James Amann, now a lobbyist for Shoreline Star, said the two major new gambling venues in New York — Aqueduct and Yonkers — have drawn large numbers of gamblers out of Fairfield County.

"When MGM opens, the erosion will continue, and if there is inaction taken by this General Assembly, it will only get worse,'' Amann said. "This is not about promoting or expanding gambling opportunities. It's about the fight the state is forced to wage with neighboring states for gaming dollars. … Other states are taking the fight to Connecticut. We need to protect what we have and keep Connecticut dollars in Connecticut.''

While some lawmakers are focused on jobs and revenues for the state, other advocates say the state is not paying enough attention to the social costs of gambling. State Sen. Tony Hwang, R-Fairfield, was strongly opposed to keno proposals and he is also opposing the expansion of new slots.

"Gambling addiction is a disease,'' Hwang said. "We're not treating it as a disease in these discussions.''

Hwang has teamed up with former U.S. Rep. Bob Steele, a Republican who represented the state's Second District from 1970 to 1975.

"Today's slots have become highly addictive computers'' that "produce relatively few jobs,'' Steele testified Thursday to the legislature's public safety committee. "They drain wealth from communities.''

In the same way, Cheryl Chandler of the Connecticut Council on Problem Gambling raised questions about the proposal.

"This would not only be an expansion of gambling, but an introduction to communities of the form of gambling found to be most closely associated with addiction,'' Chandler said. "One example close to home is that fact that 46 percent of problem gamblers who called the problem gambling helpline identified slot machines as the form of gambling with which they have a problem.''

But Amann said that additional slot machines would not be disruptive because Connecticut residents have been dealing with various forms of gambling for decades.

"For those critics who argue that the promotion of gambling under any circumstances is wrong, they need to realize that gambling is nothing new to the state,'' Amann said. "For the past four decades, Connecticut has been a gaming state, beginning with jai alai, lottery, bingo, and most recently, casinos. … This has the potential to be a win-win for the state of Connecticut and its taxpayers.''



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