Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun may lose under new Massachusetts casinos plan

Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick signed the law last week, putting the Bay State on a course to erode the hold Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun have had on the region’s casino market. The eastern Connecticut resorts may lose as much as 20 percent of their revenue as rivals open nearer to Boston in the next three to five years, according to Clyde Barrow, director of the Center for Policy Analysis at the University of Massachusetts.

“In Massachusetts we knew something like us$ 1 billion a year was crossing the border, which is about 6,000 jobs,” Barrow said today by telephone, referring to gamblers traveling to Connecticut. “It was getting increasingly difficult for state leaders to watch that outflow.”

Connecticut has benefited by sharing in slot-machine revenue from the two American Indian-owned casinos. The state’s cut reached us$ 430.5 million in fiscal 2007, according to government data. Since then, receipts have declined. Massachusetts became the latest state to open the door to casino gambling in the Northeast, following Rhode Island and New York.

Foxwoods Resort Casino is about 100 miles (160 kilometers) southwest of Boston, in Mashantucket, near the Rhode Island state line. It was started by the Mashantucket Pequot tribe, which began with bingo halls, adding table games and slots in the early 1990s. The Mohegan Tribal Nation followed, partnering with developers to open Mohegan Sun in 1996 in nearby Uncasville. Both are north of coastal New London.