The Mohegan American Indian tribe is threatening to withhold as much as $200 million in slot-machine payments annually if the Connecticut Legislature bans smoking at casinos, a potential major blow to the state budget.
In strongly worded letters to Gov. M. Jodi Rell and Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, tribal officials said this week that a pending bill to ban smoking at the state’s two casinos is unconstitutional and would violate the compact between the Mohegan tribe and the state.
The letters were delivered after a bill was passed this week by the Legislature’s public-health committee, on a 28-2 bipartisan vote, to ban smoking at the casinos.
“I must inform you that if this legislation is approved, that action will force us to vigorously defend our federally recognized right to govern our lands,” Mohegan Tribal Chairman Bruce “Two Dogs” Bozsum wrote in a letter to Rell.
“I will be compelled to initiate legal action on behalf of the Mohegan Tribe to stop this assault on our rights. … As you will see, legal action may put in jeopardy our slot contribution to the state of Connecticut.”
The two casinos are projected to generate $375 million for the state in the current fiscal year, a drop of $74 million from the original estimate of $449 million calculated by the Legislature’s nonpartisan fiscal office.
As the economy has weakened, gambling revenue collected by the two casinos in southeastern Connecticut has decreased sharply.
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