Federal judge dismisses MGM lawsuit against Connecticut

A federal judge has ruled in favor of the state in a lawsuit filed by MGM Resorts in the summer of 2015.

US.- After MGM Resorts International filed a lawsuit against Connecticut state over its new property located near Connecticut’s border with Massachusetts, a federal judge has ruled in favor of the state.

Last June, Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy signed a proposal into law for the establishment of a third tribal casino within the state’s borders. As per the law, Connecticut’s two federally recognised tribes, the Mohegan and the Mashantucket Pequot Tribe, were allowed to start looking for a potential location for the new gambling venue. Another law to actually authorise the casino’s construction is still pending.

MGM Resorts is currently building the US$950-million MGM Springfield casino resort in Massachusetts, near Connecticut’s border, so the casino operator has been taking various actions to block the tribal casino project that would be a direct competitor to its own venue.

Last August, MGM filed a lawsuit against Connecticut and its decision to allow the establishment of a third full-scale gambling facility within its borders. MGM Resorts claimed that by allowing the Mohegans and the Mashantucket Pequots to build together the third casino, the state’s new law demonstrated discriminatory favoritism. Connecticut, on the other hand, argued that MGM Resorts was not harmed by its new gambling act and that it did not have any standing to sue.

Now earlier this week, Judge Alvin Thompson supported the Connecticut’s claim, declaring that the law did not explicitly favour the two federally recognised tribes and that there was any distinct competitive disadvantage to the gambling operator or even if there was one, it was too abstract to be supported in court.MGM Resorts responded by appealing the latest ruling in the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.