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Save the Environment. Connect with the Green Business Community Advertise in the VIEW FALL DIGITAL EDITION ONLINE! The region's first state-wide publication dedicated to green business Next edition publishing Winter, 2013 > Green Technology • Transportation, Transit & Logistics • Energy: Electricity, Heating, Cooling, Renewables, Generation & Delivery • Environment • Manufacturing • Government & Policy • Environmental Law • Architecture, Construction & Engineering • Waste Management & Recycling • Education, Workforce Development & University Research • The Consumer Marketplace • Sustainability At Home • And More! Including: CT casinos: From bingo to super-resorts By Brad Kane bkane@HartfordBusiness.com F rom bingo halls to casino resorts to regional domination to massive debt to proliferate competition to rebirth, Connecticut's two Native American casinos have had quite the ride over the past 20 years. On Feb. 15, 1992, Connecticut's first casino started welcoming gamblers from across the Northeast when the Mashantucket Pequot tribe opened the 46,000-square-foot Foxwoods High Stakes Bingo & Casino in Mashantucket. For the six year's prior, the tribe had operated a 2,100-seat bingo hall that was so popular a casino seemed like a logical next step. "It has really grow beyond the bingo hall," said Becky Carr, Foxwoods chief marketing officer. Two years later, the federal government officially recognized the Mohegan tribe of Connecticut. The Mashantucket Pequots modified their exclusive agreement to oper- ate slot machines in the state, in order to allow the Mohegans to open their own casino. The Mohegan Sun resort casino opened in Uncasville in October 1996. "What has been amazing about Mohegan Sun, for me at least, is I got here at the begin- ning and got to see the transformation from a broken down factory to an unparalleled destination," said Mitchell Grossinger Etess. He started at Mohegan in November 1995 as senior vice president of marketing and is now chief operating officer of Mohegan Tribal Gaming Commission, operator of the casino. When the Mashantucket Pequots modified their slots agreement with the state of Con- necticut to allow the Mohegans to open their casino, both tribes agreed with Gov. Lowell Weicker to give 25 percent of their monthly slot revenues to the state's general fund. That agree- ment continues to this day but would be voided if a third casino ever opens in Connecticut. When Mohegan Sun and Foxwoods opened, they were the only casinos in the Northeast north of Atlantic City. Both tribes decided if they were going to continue to attract visitors, they would need more than simple in-and-out gaming offerings. They decided to build resorts. The renamed Foxwoods Resort Casino went first with annual expansions from 1994 to 1998 with hotels, more casino floors, table games, conference facilities, golf courses, spas, restaurants and shopping. Mohegan Sun followed suit in 2001 with its $1.1 billion Sunburst expansion adding the facility's 1,200-room hotel, a second casino, a shopping mall, and the Mohegan Sun Arena. "Before we opened Project Sunburst, Fox- woods had a lot more stuff than us," Etess said. "We went from just gambling to a com- plete entertainment destination." The casinos would continue to expand until Foxwoods became the largest casino resort in North America and Mohegan Sun became the second largest. With little competition and numerous amenities to draw crowds, the casinos raked in billions in revenue. Foxwoods peaked in 2005 with $820 million in slot revenue alone. In 2007, Mohegan Sun peaked at $916 million in slot revenue. The highs didn't last forever, though, as the economic downturn began eroding the casino's revenues. At the end of the fiscal year in 2012, Foxwoods had $614 million in slot revenue, and Mohegan had $689 million. Making matters worse was the debt ser- vice for the many expansion projects. Fox- woods faced the brunt as a planned $700 mil- lion expansion that added a whole new resort to the complex went forward and became the MGM Grand at Foxwoods. When the project was complete, Foxwoods had more than $2.2 billion in debt service, which the company just finished refinancing in October 2012. "Restructuring our debt has helped us become a very reliable investment," Carr said. Mohegan Sun completed restructuring of its $1.6 million debt in March 2012, but by then the Northeast had more than two casinos. Other states saw the benefits of gaming revenues during the economic recession, and New York, Rhode Island, and Maine added new casinos. Massachusetts approved a plan for casinos in 2011, and the expected open- ing of four gaming establishments in the Bay State is expected to erode Connecticut's casi- no revenues by at least 15 percent. "It has been one thing after another since 2008," Etess said. Connecticut had the opportunity to cut off some of this competition —at least from the south — when the Mashantucket Pequots proposed a $875 million casino in Bridgeport. The state General Assembly rejected those plans in December 1995. "It would have cut New York off for the properties here," Etess said. In the face of this new competition, Mohe- gan Sun and Foxwoods decided to remake themselves. Mohegan Sun used its brand to open a second casino in Pennsylvania and became the operator of an Atlantic City casi- no. The tribe also is competing for a resort casino license in Western Massachusetts. After obtaining a casino license for Phila- delphia and failing to realize that property, Foxwoods decided to transform the Mashan- tucket property as a destination for visitors from across the globe. On its 20th anniver- sary in February 2012, Foxwoods announced plans for an outlet mall. "That's really where we differentiate our- selves," Carr said, "to continue to position Foxwoods as a resort destination." g