In the early hours of Wednesday morning, the Connecticut House of Representatives passed a package of bills that would ultimately allow a third casino to be built in East Windsor. The Connecticut Mirror reports that the bill passed in a lopsided vote of 103-46.
The two-bill package would create an entertainment sharing agreement between the state’s two federally recognized tribes, the Mashantucket Pequot and the Mohegan, and several entertainment venues around the state.
Representative Christopher Davis, a Republican from East Windsor, voted for the bills even though he would have preferred there had been an open bid for a third casino.
“I think there are some constitutional issues that might come with this casino being put into East Windsor. That is to be adjudicated by the courts. But I think a lot of the research I have done, the meetings I have had across the district, have assured me that this facility would bring a benefit to the Town of East Windsor ultimately.”
The House bills contain additional provisions that were not in a similar bill that passed in the Senate. So they’ll have to be approved by the Senate before they can get to the governor’s desk for his signature.
The Mashantucket Pequot and the Mohegan want to build the East Windsor facility to compete with a $950 million casino being built by MGM in nearby Springfield, Massachusetts.
The operators of the MGM casino say the state violated federal law by not allowing bids from other parties for the state’s first commercial gaming license. They promise to fight in the courts.
