Going back to Hartford, to Hartford

The latest from the smoking-ban issue....

Connecticut's two tribal casinos will be smoke-free, one way or another, Attorney General Richard Blumenthal vowed this morning during a press conference introducing a bill that wants to ban smoking in casino areas where the state's liquor laws apply.

"This is historic in its scope, and you're going to make history at the casinos," he told a group of Foxwoods Resort Casino workers standing behind him clad in yellow United Auto Workers "Union Yes" T-shirts. "As sure as I am standing here, the casinos will be smoke-free."

The gathering opened a day of hearings by the Public Health Committee in Hartford. Last item on its list is Senate Bill 419, which calls for an end to smoking in all areas of Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun governed by Connecticut's liquor laws.

The UAW, which held a successful union vote amongst Foxwoods dealers in November but has yet to have the vote certified by the National Labor Relations Board, says the secondhand smoke situation in casinos is hazardous to workers as well as visitors. Both the Mashantucket Pequots, owners of Foxwoods, and the Mohegans say maintaining proper air quality in the casinos has draw the attention and spending of tribal government.

Connecticut's bars, restaurants and taverns have been smoke-free since at least 2004. Senate Bill 419 was described this morning by a Yale clinical law professor as a way to close the casinos' loophole.

"The state of Connecticut indisputibly has the right to regulate smoke in the casinos," Michael Wishnic said. "This one isn't close."

But a spokesman for the Mohegan Tribe disputed that assertion, saying that his tribe's sovereign government moved to make Mohegan Sun about 75-percent smoke-free in advance of the state's smoking bans. Chuck Bunnell said welcome Blumenthal's offer of discussion and possible agreement outside of litigation on the matter.

"The attorney general suggested that, through dialog, we could sit down and addres this issue," he said. "I know that that is something the Mohegan Tribal Council is open to."

A representative for the Mashantuckets was not immediately available for comment.

This afternoon's hearing will bring testimony from such witnesses as casino employees, tribal representatives, members of other smoking-ban advocate groups as well as a Maryland-based secondhand smoke consultant who says a recently completed analysis of air quality inside the casinos shows particulate levels several times greater than that of the state's outside air samples.

Casino impact study going ahead

"Casino impact study coming in early 2009
NEWINGTON — A New Jersey firm has signed a contract to study the effects on legalized gambling on Connecticut’s citizens, according to an announcement made Wednesday by the state’s Division of Special Revenue.
“This will be the first gaming study in 10 years,” Paul A. Young, the division’s executive director, said in a statement. “We are expecting a high quality product that will carry out the mandate of the statute.”
Spectrum Gaming Group, LLC, of Linwood will study the overall impact of gambling, the impact of Foxwoods Resort Casino and Mohegan Sun as well as the incidence of chronic gambling, he said, amongst other things. This study was given a $700,000 budget and will be complete in early 2009.
The last study was released in 1997 and was a snapshot of Connecticut’s casino culture in the days just after Mohegan Sun opened its doors."

After a hiatus of more than 10 years, Connecticut will add yet another casino impact study to the stack produced within the last year. What do you want analysts to look at when it comes to how Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun have impacted the area?

Random roundup

Here's some news from the region's casino scene:

* The town council in Palmer, Mass., has encouraged the Legislature in the commonwealth to act on Gov. Deval Patrick's bill to license three resort casinos in the commonwealth. Palmer, just north of the Connecticut border on Route 32 and along the Massachusetts Turnpike, is being considered by the Mohegans for a casino-resort development.

* Slots strike again at Mohegan Sun. A college student from Somerville, Mass., won $3.5 million Sunday at a Wheel of Fortune Megajackpot machine. She's the third gambler this month to hit the jackpot and the second to win a multi-million-dollar prize.

First day at Foxwoods?

Connecticut's first casino turns 16 on Friday, and, while there's no word whether Foxwoods Resort Casino is going to get that shiny red convertible as a present, I'd love to hear from people who witnessed the birth of casino gambling all those years ago.
Drop me a line at ejacobson@norwichbulletin.com, call 425-4241 or leave a comment here with your first day at Foxwoods story and the best way to contact you.

Cost comparisons

Some other interesting information from the first quarter operating results at Mohegan Sun:

Average cost of a meal during the first quarter of fiscal year 2008: $14.68
Same time, fiscal year 2007: $14.03

Average daily rate of a hotel room during the first quarter of fiscal year 2008: $115
Same time, fiscal year 2007: $127

Cost of Project Horizon expansion during the first quarter of fiscal year 2008: $925 million
Same time, fiscal year 2007: $740 million

Breaking news....

Mohegan Sun income down 23.2 percent in first quarter of 2008 fiscal year

Casino official calls results "disappointing"

First quarter operating income at Mohegan Sun was down $16.9 million, or 23.2 percent, from the same time in 2006, a situation casino president and chief officer Mitchell Etess called "disappointing."

"The quarter was especially impacted by the December slot promotional activity at our competitor, which had a devastating impact on the Connecticut and New England market," Etess, who is also the president and chief officer of the Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority, said in a statement in the authority's first quarter fiscal year 2008 report. "Trends in January and early February indicate that normal levels of promotional activity have resumed."

Math is hard

Turns out the final countdown clock to the opening of the MGM Grand at Foxwoods is off by a day or two. Saverio Mancini, a spokesman for Foxwoods Resort Casino, said the real date - May 17, 2008 - flashes briefly at the beginning of the Web site presentation.

This just in...Part II: Electric Boogaloo

May 18 appears to be the opening date for the MGM Grand at Foxwoods site, based on a countdown clock running on the casino's Web site this morning. But no official announcement has been made by the Mashantucket Pequots.

The $700 million expansion will add a casino, 26-story hotel, 4,000-seat theater as well as dining and shopping to southeastern Connecticut.

Mohegan Sun, run by the Mohegan tribe, is also growing. It's $925 million Project Horizon expansion includes the Casino of the Wind, scheduled to open in the fall, as well as a second hotel tower, dining, shopping and entertainment facilities opening in stages through 2010.

(Bonus points to anyone who correctly guesses why this is the ONLY weekend in May I wished they weren't opening.)

The fog

Once every two weeks, we Bulletin reporters get the pleasure of working a 6 a.m. shift.

Call it bad short-term memory, but I'm always a little surprised by the number of folks on the road at 5:45. Local oil delivery trucks. Tradesmen's personal heavy-duty pickups with such bumper stickers as "My child got your honor student pregnant." Long-haul truckers jostling in and out of the left-hand lane to get around slower cars headed for the Route 2A Mohegan Sun exit ramp.

There's always at least one car headed to the flyover ramp with plates from semi-distant states. This morning, it was a sedan from Pennsylvania — a state usually no closer than a three-hour drive from this part of Connecticut. With a right swerve, it was gone, made fuzzy by the fog that fell on southeastern Connecticut like a thick, napping jungle cat accidentally rolling out of a tree on the African veldt.

(My apologies, Carl...but we will always have our hog butcher, our player with railroads.)

The dampening, darkening effect of the fog was stronger than I had ever seen before. My usual gauge - the glowing Mohegan Sun hotel tower - was completely obliterated without even a hint of light.

I've spent the last 10 months listening to local and regional economic experts wonder aloud about what our area would be like if Connecticut's two casinos had never been built or if they suddenly closed. I've seen the future - or maybe it was just a peek into a past many in this region remember - and it was dark.

Foxwoods' post season celebration with New England’s favorite football players

(courtesy of my official football translator, Dustin Racioppi)

MASHANTUCKET — Eyegloo and Point Magazine will celebrate with the New England Patriots’ Laurence Maroney, Reichard Seymour, Donte Stallworth and other almost undefeated stars beginning at 7:30 p.m. Friday in the atrium at Foxwoods Resort Casino. This will be the first indoor public appearance for these players since the Super Bowl in Arizona.
The players will arrive to give away team shirts, hats, footballs and jerseys.
Their appearance will be followed by a celebration of the Patriots undefeated regular season in the foyer area outside the Bingo Hall at 8 p.m.

Get on the bus?

This just in....

The Mashantucket Pequots "coercively and unlawfully interrogated employees" regarding testimony during recent hearings at the National Labor Relations Board offices in Hartford, according to a charge filed Friday by the United Auto Workers.

Hearings regarding tribal objections to the Nov. 24 organizing vote amongst dealers at Foxwoods Resort Casino ended Tuesday. In a statement released Friday, the union claimed workers learned they were going to Hartford when they picked up their daily schedules and rode casino buses to the hearings.

Arthur Henick, a spokesman for the tribe, read a statement contesting the charges.

"This seems like a desperate attempt by the UAW to try to detract attention from its own improper conduct that came to light at the hearing and from additional conduct by a UAW supporter that was reported privately to the regional director on Jan. 24," he said. "The additional improper UAW conduct is currently under investigation. We are confident that the allegations against Foxwoods have no merit whatsoever."

Henick would not elaborate at this time regarding the UAW conduct reported by the tribe.

You oughta be in commercials...

So maybe you didn't hit it big at the roulette wheel, but here's your chance to break into the exciting world of ...
commercial extras.

"Kevin Fennessy Casting seeks extras for a Mohegan Sun television commercial shooting February 5th, 6th, and 7th at the resort in Uncasville, CT. We need both Union and non-union performers to portray casino guests in upscale casual attire.
These will be overnight shoots. Those who wish to be considered must be at least 21 years of age and available all 3 nights.
SAG members will be paid at the scale/unlimited use rate. Only those union members who live within 70 miles of Uncasville (an area encompassing Providence, Hartford, and New Haven) will be considered.
Non-union performers will be paid a flat rate of $100/night."

(find more info here... www.kfcasting.com)

Anybody out there in southeastern Connecticut ever do anything like this? Would love to hear from you if you did....