Connecticut AG Casts Doubt on Satellite Casino Proposal
Tuesday, March 10th, 2020
Connecticut Attorney General George Jepsen is offering no assurances that are false their state’s appropriate right to authorize a ‘satellite casino’ 13 miles from the MGM Springfield in Massachusetts.
The issues that are legal the proposal are complex and uncertain, he said in a letter to Governor Dannel Malloy.
Connecticut AG George Jepsen is uncertain that a casino project designed to blunt competition through the MGM Springfield could survive future constitutional legal challenges.
MGM Resorts has attempted to sue Connecticut over the enactment of its ‘Special Act 15-7,’ which established the method that allowed the state’s two tribal gaming operators to find a bunch municipality for the border casino that is proposed.
Because this is a commercial casino situated outside tribal lands, the MGM lawsuit claimed the the Special Act was in violation of equal protection guarantees and the commerce clause, enshrined in the US Constitution.
Essentially, had Connecticut really desired to ascertain a commercial casino it must have opened the procedure up to all commercial operators and not simply its two federally recognized tribes, the Mohegans and the Mashantucket Pequots.
Constitutionally Questionable
Connecticut has made small secret regarding the reality the key purpose of the casino could be to deflect competition through the MGM Springfield to counteract the detrimental effect that would have on its own casino industry.
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