SPRINGFIELD — MGM Resorts International Chairman and CEO Jim Murren on Tuesday ridiculed a proposal by Connecticut’s tribes to build a casino along I-91 to compete with an $800 million casino in Springfield, calling the tribes’ proposal a “box of slots.”
“I’m a little bit bemused, I have to say,” Murren said after a groundbreaking ceremony Tuesday morning for MGM Springfield.
“Connecticut has had a duopoly for decades and instead of attempting to improve the quality of entertainment on the existing resorts, there seems to be a desire to sprinkle slots around the state,” he said.
“That’s not entertainment, I can tell you that,” Murren told reporters. “It might raise some revenue, but it doesn’t create many jobs.”
In response to MGM’s development, the Mohegan and Mashantucket Pequot tribes, which operate Mohegan Sun and Foxwoods Resort Casino, are lobbying the Connecticut legislature for permission to build up to three additional casinos in the state. The priority is a casino along I-91 north of Hartford to compete with MGM. The effort received approval on March 19 form a legislative committee on Public Safety and Security. The legislature at large has not yet taken up the matter.
Murren said: “A legislative reaction … after having basically a duopoly for decades, to try to, you know, keep money in the state, I don’t think will succeed. I think the people of Massachusetts, at least, would vastly prefer to go to a brand-new, luxury resort than a box of slots on the Connecticut border.”
Murren said that he is in the business of creating destination resorts, and that he thinks the people of New England will like the MGM’s casino in downtown Springfield.
MGM Springfield will take over 14.5 acres on three city blocks between Union and State streets, from Columbus Avenue to Main Street. It will have 3,000 slots, 100 table games such as black jack and roulette, along with a poker room and a high-limit VIP gaming area.
Slots-in-a-box is far from the description the tribes have offered legislators.
Mohegan Tribal Council Chairman Kevin “Red Eagle” Brown has corrected people who say that the proposed casinos his tribe would jointly operate with the Mashantucket Pequots are “slot parlors.” Brown has said that MGM’s strategy relies on drawing people from Greater Hartford, referring to MGM’s filings with the Massachusetts Gaming Commission.
“Please don’t say slot parlor,” Brown said on March 24 of the tribes’ proposal. “That’s one of the myths we’re trying to take out … It’s a first-rate gaming facility.”
The tribes’ are proposing a facility with 1,800 to 2,000 slot machines, 50 to 75 table games, such as poker, along with some limited food and beverage options. The legislative bill would allow blackjack, poker, roulette, baccarat, chuck-a-luck, over and under, acey-deucey, bouncing ball, beat the dealer, slot machines, dice games and other forms of gambling.
MGM Springfield is expected to bring 3,000 permanent jobs when it opens in the fall of 2017 and 2,000 construction jobs as the casino, hotel, shopping, apartments and other aspects are built. MGM Springfield President and Chief Operating Officer Michael Mathis said MGM is working with the Springfield Historical Commission and the Massachusetts Historical Commission on approvals to demolish buildings, making way for the casino.
More than 500 people attended Tuesday’ ceremonial groundbreaking. MGM is working to secure permits and approvals to demolish buildings, and actual construction work is expected to begin in the coming weeks and months.
Regarding the possibility that a nearby casino on I-91 could hurt MGM’s profits, Mathis said, “competition that close is certainly something that is important for us to monitor. I look at it as just raising the bar about what we have to build here. I want us to build something compelling that will bring people up past some of those facilities.”
Mathis added that Connecticut will benefit from having MGM Springfield so nearby.
“There’s no question that Connecticut will benefit. I mean, you know, Enfield is right across the line,” Mathis said.
“I think between vendor opportunities and different residents that are within a 10-, 15-, 20-minute drive, we will certainly have customers and employees from Connecticut. Our [commitment] is to the city of Springfield and to the Commonwealth, but there’s no question that we’ll have some employees and benefits that will trickle across the state line.”
Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno said MGM is world renowned for its entertainment, and he believes that will be a draw for the Springfield casino.
Jim Murren said at the groundbreaking he doubts that people across Connecticut will “be digging having slot machines on every other corner.”
“Is that really what Connecticut wants to have around the state? Is that really the answer?” Murren said.
Murren added that he has a lot of friends at Mohegan Sun and Foxwoods, adding that one of his former employees works as the president of Foxwoods, Felix Rappaport. In November, Rappaport replaced former Foxwoods CEO Scott Butera, who resigned to become commissioner of the Arena Football League.
“I’d love to go toe-to-toe with Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun…,” Murren said.
