The legislature adjourned this month without authorizing such a process. In a statement, MGM Resorts stressed its commitment to Bridgeport, where it unveiled plans for a $675 million resort casino last September, announcing it intended to push for the Connecticut legislature to establish a competitive-bidding process for a commercial casino license.
The tribes, partners in a plan to develop an East Windsor casino as a hedge against the Massachusetts facility, declined to comment Tuesday on MGM Resorts’ latest acquisition. The Mashantucket Pequot and Mohegan tribes, respective owners of Foxwoods Resort Casino and Mohegan Sun, expect to lose significant business to MGM Springfield. In less than three months, MGM Resorts plans to open MGM Springfield, Massachusetts’ first full-blown resort casino, a few miles from Connecticut’s northern border. MGM Resorts International came at Connecticut from another angle Tuesday, announcing it's buying Empire City Casino, a Yonkers, N.Y., racetrack casino, for $850 million while remaining committed to its plan to build a Bridgeport casino if the state authorizes one.
