Casino bill dies in Connecticut
MGM’s lobbying efforts in Connecticut have fallen short after the casino expansion bill has died with the end of the current General Assembly’s session.
US.- MGM Resorts was lobbying hard in Connecticut to get a casino expansion bill passed in order to open a casino in Bridgeport. However, the current session at the General Assembly has ended and the bill wasn’t called for a debate in the Senate and the casino giant’s efforts fell short.
“That’s not an issue that I’ve spent a lot of time on,’’ Governor Dannel Malloy said. “I figured either it would get to my office, and I would spend time on it, or it wouldn’t get to my office, and I wouldn’t have to spend time on it.”
Lawmakers had advanced the bill would die before being debated in the Senate, but MGM still wrote a statement to celebrate its victory in the House: “A year ago, the bill never received a floor vote. This year, it passed the House. That is significant. We realize that change is hard and takes time, and we respect the delegation’s preference not to dominate debate with this issue with much to accomplish in a short time in the session’s final hours.”
MGM Resorts, which is already set to open a venue over the state line in Springfield, Massachusetts, was looking forward to seeing the bill passed in order to develop another casino in Bridgeport. “Connecticut is one step closer to adopting a best-in-class process for possible selection of a commercial casino operator,” said MGM Senior Vice President Uri Clinton after the House voted 77 to 73 in its favour on Friday and sent the bill to the Senate.
This may have been the end for the casino expansion bill this year, but expect to see it coming back, as the upcoming Springfield casino in Massachusetts will put Connecticut’s industry in jeopardy and lawmakers may want to reconsider their priorities soon enough.
