https://www.google.com/amp/www.cour...an-sun-sports-betting-20180430-story,amp.html
The tribal operators of Foxwoods Resort Casino and Mohegan Sun have opened a new battle front over the expansion of gambling in Connecticut, arguing they have the exclusive right to conduct sports betting in the state should it become legal.
In separate letters to legislative leaders Friday and Saturday, the Mashantucket Pequot and Mohegan tribes said the revenue-sharing agreements that give the state a 25-percent cut of video slot machine revenue from their casinos each month also pertains to sports betting.
In a letter to House Speaker Joseph Aresimowicz, the Mohegans cite a recent legal opinion from Attorney General George Jepsen advising the legislature to “carefully consider a number of factors before legalizing sports wagering.”
The letter from the Mohegans also pointed to Jepsen’s statement that “The tribes may argue...that a state law permitting sports wagering in Connecticut may violate the exclusivity provisions” of the revenue-sharing agreements.
Aresimowicz, D-Berlin, and House Majority Leader Matthew Ritter said at a morning news briefing that it was unlikely that the state would turn sports betting over to the tribes.
Aresimowicz said he, the attorney general and others, do not believe the casinos can stop payments to the state if they allow sports betting to occur outside of the casino venues.
“I rather have conversations than say, ‘OK, you stop paying us the money for the compact and then we’ll tell you, you can’t have slot machines at all in the state,” Aresimowicz said. “Nobody wants to do that. The tribes are going to part of any type of gambling we do in the state of Connecticut.”
Ritter, D-Hartford, said there was no sports gaming in Connecticut when the state signed the compacts with the tribes.
“It was never contemplated and the specific words were never used,” Ritter said. “Here we are 26 years later and they’re raising it for the first time.”
Ritter added: “I’ve heard and read better legal arguments than that one,’’ Ritter said.
The revenue-sharing agreements, signing separately with each tribes as they opened their casinos in the 1990s, guarantee the payments to the state in exchange for the right to be the sole operators of video slot machines.
The Mashantucket Pequots make similar arguments in a letter Saturday to legislative leaders, noting that if sports betting is legalized it would likely constitute “a video facsimile or video game of chance.”
“If the legislature authorizes sports betting in a manner that constitutes a video facsimile or video game of chance, such an authorization would lift the moratorium under the tribal-state gaming compacts,” the letter stated.
In their letter, the Mohegans noted the long partnership with the state and how they have worked through issues touching on the revenue-sharing agreement, or “compact,” in the past.
One example, the Mohegans said, was the state agreeing to divide a quarter of the profits from the state lottery’s Keno game between the two tribes. That agreement, however, only came only after the state and the tribes clashed over the issue.
According to the state Office of Policy and Management, the tribes sent $270 million to the state from slot revenue in the 2016-2017 fiscal year. The state sent a total of $6.5 million from Keno to the tribes, OPM said.
For the current fiscal year — through March — the tribes have contributed $204 million in slot revenue, according to OPM. Payments to the tribes from Keno for the same period were $5.6 million.
The bill proposing to legalize sports betting in Connecticut comes in anticipation of a ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court, expected in June, on whether states can regulate sports betting.
The tribal operators of Foxwoods Resort Casino and Mohegan Sun have opened a new battle front over the expansion of gambling in Connecticut, arguing they have the exclusive right to conduct sports betting in the state should it become legal.
In separate letters to legislative leaders Friday and Saturday, the Mashantucket Pequot and Mohegan tribes said the revenue-sharing agreements that give the state a 25-percent cut of video slot machine revenue from their casinos each month also pertains to sports betting.
In a letter to House Speaker Joseph Aresimowicz, the Mohegans cite a recent legal opinion from Attorney General George Jepsen advising the legislature to “carefully consider a number of factors before legalizing sports wagering.”
The letter from the Mohegans also pointed to Jepsen’s statement that “The tribes may argue...that a state law permitting sports wagering in Connecticut may violate the exclusivity provisions” of the revenue-sharing agreements.
Aresimowicz, D-Berlin, and House Majority Leader Matthew Ritter said at a morning news briefing that it was unlikely that the state would turn sports betting over to the tribes.
Aresimowicz said he, the attorney general and others, do not believe the casinos can stop payments to the state if they allow sports betting to occur outside of the casino venues.
“I rather have conversations than say, ‘OK, you stop paying us the money for the compact and then we’ll tell you, you can’t have slot machines at all in the state,” Aresimowicz said. “Nobody wants to do that. The tribes are going to part of any type of gambling we do in the state of Connecticut.”
Ritter, D-Hartford, said there was no sports gaming in Connecticut when the state signed the compacts with the tribes.
“It was never contemplated and the specific words were never used,” Ritter said. “Here we are 26 years later and they’re raising it for the first time.”
Ritter added: “I’ve heard and read better legal arguments than that one,’’ Ritter said.
The revenue-sharing agreements, signing separately with each tribes as they opened their casinos in the 1990s, guarantee the payments to the state in exchange for the right to be the sole operators of video slot machines.
The Mashantucket Pequots make similar arguments in a letter Saturday to legislative leaders, noting that if sports betting is legalized it would likely constitute “a video facsimile or video game of chance.”
“If the legislature authorizes sports betting in a manner that constitutes a video facsimile or video game of chance, such an authorization would lift the moratorium under the tribal-state gaming compacts,” the letter stated.
In their letter, the Mohegans noted the long partnership with the state and how they have worked through issues touching on the revenue-sharing agreement, or “compact,” in the past.
One example, the Mohegans said, was the state agreeing to divide a quarter of the profits from the state lottery’s Keno game between the two tribes. That agreement, however, only came only after the state and the tribes clashed over the issue.
According to the state Office of Policy and Management, the tribes sent $270 million to the state from slot revenue in the 2016-2017 fiscal year. The state sent a total of $6.5 million from Keno to the tribes, OPM said.
For the current fiscal year — through March — the tribes have contributed $204 million in slot revenue, according to OPM. Payments to the tribes from Keno for the same period were $5.6 million.
The bill proposing to legalize sports betting in Connecticut comes in anticipation of a ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court, expected in June, on whether states can regulate sports betting.
