At least you get to eat ice cream....

Turns out today is free cone day at Ben & Jerry's, which has locations in both of Connecticut's casinos. As someone who used to line up outside their shop in Burlington, Vt., for this rite of spring, it's the surest sign that summer is lurking somewhere in the next month or two. Stop in from 12 p.m. to 8 p.m.

As for me, newly tonsil-less and maxed out on ice cream, I might take a pass. Sigh.

Engineers can vote to form union at Foxwoods

Hartford, Conn. —

About 310 engineering employees at Foxwoods Resort Casino can vote on whether to organize under the International Union of Operating Engineers, according to a decision issued by the National Labor Relations Board this morning.

Peter Hoffman, the board's regional director, dismissed claims by the Mashantucket Pequot Gaming Enterprise regarding financial hardship for the Mashantucket Pequot tribe should a union strike as well as arguments the board does not have jurisdiction over the sovereign nation.

A list of employees eligible to vote is due to the board Tuesday.

Welcome to the flip side?

The Mashtanucket Pequots are offering buyouts of tribal government employees. Oh, and if the smoking ban at the casinos goes through, the head of the Mohegan tribe said there will be layoffs at Mohegan Sun when visitor numbers dip.

I wonder if there are any casino workers looking to snag one of those hundreds of jobs Electric Boat is creating?

Craigslist sex ads and the casinos

I'm not sure how it works in the other Connecticut, but here on our side of the state, the gals (and it is mostly gals) offering "erotic services" through Craigslist often mention one of two places: the casinos or Groton.

Doesn't take an Electric Boat engineer to figure out why — both areas have highly transient populations. And, with the idea of escape so heavily promoted by the casinos, why not step outside of the ordinary?

Now, I didn't grow up in eastern Connecticut so I don't remember the pre-casino days, but I'm going to venture a guess the world's oldest profession wasn't nearly as widespread in the past....

Commercial casino plan backing out of Bay State?

With Gov. Deval Patrick publicly admitting his casino proposal probably won't succeed, Connecticut is in the position to win and lose.

Already, recent months have seen a slowing in slot machine play. Casino execs say it's the price of gas, the downturn in the economy and increased competition from slot parlors in Yonkers and Rhode Island. Casinos in Massachusetts would bring thousands more no-arm bandits (mostly buttons these days, right?) into a market that could become supersaturated overnight.

But the Mohegans have already shopped a proposed casino in Palmer, Mass., and the Mashantucket Pequots have admitted to looking at various properties in the past. As the last annual report from the Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority showed, having Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs just outside of Wilkes-Baree, Pa., really helped shore up a disastrous December here in Connecticut. Diversification isn't just a hope anymore, based on the tribes' plans, it is more of a necessity.

And the rocket's red glare.....

I think it goes without saying Roseanne Barr (or me with my unending creaky, croaky throat) need not apply....

UNCASVILLE, Conn. —The Connecticut Sun will hold auditions Monday for local singers who would like to perform the national anthem prior to home games at the Mohegan Sun Arena.

Auditions will be held at the Mohegan Sun Arena from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. Candidates will be asked to sing the national anthem, a cappella, in 90 seconds or less before a panel of judges.

Candidates must provide a current resume as well as a recorded version of the national anthem on CD. All participants will be required to sign a release prior to auditioning. Any candidate younger than 18 is required to have the signature of a parent or legal guardian. Registration for auditions will begin at 5 p.m., and all candidates may enter the Mohegan Sun Arena at the box office entrance.

To pre-register or for more information, call 862.4000.

UAW vote can stand

Word has just come from Hartford that the November table game dealer vote at Foxwoods Resort Casino should stand and be certified, allowing about 2,600 dealers to organize under the United Auto Workers.

Watch this space....

You asked, I delivered

As a lot of you probably already know, the story comment section is back and I've been trying to keep up with what folks are saying and thinking about some of these casino issues.

Someone pointed out that the poll I posted yesterday didn't have a "let smoking continue" or "leave it alone" option. Well, it does now.

Go to it. And thanks for reading.

This just in from Hartford.....

Connecticut can legally extend the smoking ban to the state's two tribally owned casinos, Attorney General Richard Blumenthal said this afternoon in an opinion.

In an eight-page opinion, he said the sovereignty of the Mashantucket Pequots, who own and operate Foxwoods Resort Casino, and the Mohegans, who own and operate Mohegan Sun, will not be affected since the tribes have already agreed in compacts with the state "to adopt public health standards at least as rigorours as the State's public health laws."

Blumenthal said the tribes' non-compliance with a smoking ban in all areas of the casino governed by Connecticut liquor licenses could lead the state to revoke the permits.

But, in his eight-page opinion, he urged all groups to discuss the issue, rather than rely on legislation.

"As a matter of comity and respect, we suggest that the Tribes and the State seek an agreement to implement the ban — thereby advancing the health interests of tribal and non-tribal patrons and employees of the casinos alike, without the need for enforcement litigation," Blumenthal wrote.

On the rack in the other, other Connecticut

Anyone who knows where to buy Forbes magazine in Norwich, do share.

The waiting room

The legislative office building in Hartford is a heck of a lot like an international airport.

My destination — Friday's hearing on a proposal to ban smoking in Connecticut's casinos was held — was shared by a couple dozen Foxwoods Resort Casino dealers clad in yellow United Auto Worker T-shirts, a handful of casino representatives and an ever-growing number of expert witnesses, at least one of whom had just jetted in from the Washington, D.C.-area. We waited in the main lobby, noshed on breakfast and then lunch in the cafeteria and wandered in and out of the hearing room, checking the agenda like one would check a departures screen.

But, like waiting at an airport, it was nearly impossible not to overhear the plans of others. Instead of talking about trips to Istanbul or Iceland, various witnesses reviewed pending testimony on such issues as election-day voter registration and who should have the right to commit someone suffering from mental illness.

I also managed to drop in, unknowingly, on a hearing discussing giving tax breaks to living organ donors to help offset the cost of them having to take time off of work to recuperate. It was a moment — although less life-changing than when a near-stranger offered her kidney to a co-worker's husband a few years ago — of what a friend and fellow writer likes to call synchronicity.

Call it fate, good fortune, a lucky break or just life (for all you sarcastic pessimists out there), but Danny Gasparino most likely won't need dialysis for another decade thanks to the spontaneous generosity of Marci Pignataro. If you missed their story in last week's Bulletin, here's where to find it:

www.norwichbulletin.com/homepage/x1638943317

And an update:

www.norwichbulletin.com/homepage/x1529764129

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.