Uri Clinton, senior vice president and legal counsel at MGM Resorts, said Monday the state made it clear by approving the East Windsor casino that it did not support open competition.

In the last legislative session, MGM pushed aggressively for open competition if the state was to expand casino gambling beyond the Pequots and Mohegan tribes. MGM offered an artist rendering of “MGM Bridgeport,” a proposed resort casino with shopping, hotel space, restaurants and gambling on the Park City’s waterfront. The state currently receives hundreds of millions of dollars annually in payment from the tribes in return for being allowed to operate slot machines. The proposal is likely to rekindle the debate over the just how much the gambling industry in Connecticut can be sliced up and, if approved, the amount of competitive pressure it would place on the state’s two tribal casinos at Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun. Ganim echoed those comments saying, “This creates an opportunity not just for our cities but for our state.” “Bold initiatives that engage private capital that will yield significant revenue in the public sector over time are needed. “There is one phrase to encapsulate my support for this project which will benefit Connecticut’s two largest cities, and that phrase is ‘jobs creation,'” Harp said. Under an agreement with MGM, Bridgeport would get $8 million in annual payments, $4.5 million to surrounding communities and a workforce development and training program in New Haven to support the casino. Murren emphasized the benefits of a Bridgeport casino and entertainment complex, which would capitalize on a waterfront location and seek to draw heavily from the New York market south to Manhattan.īridgeport Mayor Joseph Ganim was joined at the press conference by Toni Harp, the mayor of New Haven, who threw her support behind the project. Malloy said he would veto the latest effort from the legislature.

And the state appears no closer to adopting a budget for the fiscal year that began July 1, after Gov. announced it would relocate its headquarters to Boston. There has been a spate of discouraging corporate news, the latest coming last week when Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc.

MGM’s announcement comes at a vulnerable time for the state. “MGM Bridgeport is the right development at the right time and in the right place,” MGM Chairman and Chief Executive Officer James Murren, a Bridgeport native and Trinity College graduate said at a news conference with Steelpointe Harbor as the backdrop. MGM Resorts International announced ambitious plans Monday for a $675 million casino and entertainment complex in Bridgeport’s Steelpointe Harbor area, a move that opens up a new front in the state’s casino expansion debate.

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