HARTFORD — The Mashantucket Pequot and Mohegan tribes put aside two decades as gaming competitors as they joined forces Thursday in a race to build a third casino in north central Connecticut.
The agreement was historic — the two tribes have existed separately for 377 years — but its importance to the future is even greater, they say: keeping jobs and revenue in Connecticut in the face of an $800 million casino challenge by MGM just over the border in Springfield.
The operators of the Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun casinos have set a goal of selecting a location by the end of November. But a heated debate is expected in the legislature, which must give final approval to the plans.
“We will always be competitors,” said Rodney Butler, chairman of the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Council. “But it is here, now, that we are coming together to combat an outside threat for the greater good of the state we call home.”
The agreement, signed in the Hall of Flags at the Capitol Thursday, comes amid growing interest by towns and developers in the Hartford area interested in hosting the casino. The tribes won’t seek formal proposals until Oct. 1, but four or five towns and half-dozen locations have already been floated as potential sites.
Detailed plans have already been developed for sites in East Hartford and Enfield — and the tribes expect more in the coming days.
Not everyone was celebrating the agreement Thursday, however.
Sen. John A. Kissel, R-Enfield, an opponent of expanded gambling in north central Connecticut, warned the negotiations over the casino could complicate and potentially create a conflict of interest in the state’s negotiations on the tribe’s cut of revenue from Keno.
Kissel said he also opposes a casino in Enfield, arguing it would “cannibalize” 400 jobs at the pari-mutuel venue at the Winners off-track betting location in Windsor Locks.
“Add some jobs here but subtract them from the next town over?” Kissel said. “That’s not wise policy at all.”
This spring, the tribes won the exclusive rights to plan a casino on private land in controversial legislation passed by the General Assembly and signed by Gov. Dannel P. Malloy. Lawmakers were divided on the expansion.
The tribes argued that new venues in Springfield, elsewhere in Massachusetts and in New York would attract gamblers away from Connecticut, costing jobs and reducing the state’s cut of revenue from slot machines at Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun.
“We all know the reality,” Kevin Brown, chairman of the Mohegan Tribal Council, told those gathered at the signing ceremony. “We have to come back to these halls to get final approval and that is driven by the legislative calendar and, so, by the turn of the year, we have to come to grips with who the best candidate would be.”
Barbara Pearce, president and chief executive of Pearce Real Estate in Branford, will lead the soliciting of the casino proposals.
The tribes envision a casino with 2,000 slots and 100 to 150 tables, with an estimated cost of $200 million to $300 million. The goal is to open before MGM in Springfield, whose opening may be delayed until 2018 because of a highway construction project.
Sen. Timothy D. Larson, D-East Hartford, Thursday acknowledged that the time frame to select a site, bring it to the legislature and develop it is tight. But the Mashantuckets and Mohegans have worked out the details of their alliance in what he described as “a pretty quick turnaround.”
“These guys have been true to their word,” said Larson, co-chairman of the legislature’s public safety committee, which oversees casinos. “They are marching along. They have always stressed a sense of urgency.”
Key to selecting a site will be how quickly it can be developed, plus the overall benefit to the town or city where it is located and the state, Larson said. The tribes also have said it must have easy highway access.
Larson said municipalities that are interested are well along in evaluating a potential casino’s effect on traffic, fire and police departments and zoning. Larson said he also believes it isn’t too late for towns and cities that require a referendum on the matter to get that on the November ballot.
Leaders of organized labor — including the United Auto Workers Region 9A, which represents 1,400 casino dealers at Foxwoods — joined Thursday to support the expansion, which they argue will preserve jobs in the state.
Julie Kushner, director of UAW Region 9A, said in a joint statement issued by several unions that the new casino will allow workers to organize without interference. Foxwoods contested union organizing efforts at its casino.
At the signing, Butler and Brown joked about which tribe would lay claim to the first “M” in the joint venture, named MM4CT.
Courant staff writer Mikaela Porter contributed to this story.
