Federal court ruling puts East Windsor casino project in limbo

An effort by the Mashantucket Pequot and Mohegan tribes to collaborate on a new casino on nontribal land in East Windsor received another setback this past weekend when a federal judge issued a ruling upheld that actions by the Department of the Interior that have blocked the project.

In June, the Interior Department accepted an amendment to Connecticut”™s tribal gaming compact to allow the Mohegan tribe to proceed with the project, but the department did not act on the amendment related to the Mashantucket Pequots. The tribe and the state took the Interior Department to court and the department sought to have the lawsuit dismissed. On Saturday, Judge Rudolph Contreras of the U.S. District Court of the District of Columbia sided with the department by issuing a 58-page decision that ruled that the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA) does not require Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke to accept revisions made to the gaming compact.

“Because the court concludes that the IGRA does not require the secretary to take the steps asserted by plaintiffs, the court must consider defendants”™ argument that plaintiffs have failed to state claims upon which relief may be granted,” the judge wrote in his ruling.

MGM Resorts International, which recently opened its own casino across the state line in Springfield and is fighting to open Connecticut”™s gaming industry to nontribal entities with a proposed casino resort in Bridgeport, issued a statement that welcomed the court ruling.

“The thorough and unambiguous federal court ruling can only be seen as a clear rejection of the tribes”™ insistent efforts to obtain a no-bid commercial casino license in Connecticut,” MGM Resorts said. “It has become increasingly apparent that the tribes”™ promises of legal victory, no matter how often they are repeated, prove hollow.”