[HeadedWest]

Originally Posted by just_because

Should have known better than to built two of the largest casinos in the country in the middle of eastern CT woods. Horrible foresight.

Could have done better by building good freeway roads to the casinos, so travel to them isn't such a pain.

[JayCT]

Originally Posted by HeadedWest

Could have done better by building good freeway roads to the casinos, so travel to them isn't such a pain.

Mohegan Sun is located right off The Route 2A connector which connects to I-395. It is not hard to get to. The location of Foxwoods was decided by the Mashinucket Pequots. They built it on their reservation. The state had looked at building a freeway there but local opposition was way too strong and a highway would not serve many other than travelers. Just not enough traffic. Jay

[HeadedWest]

Originally Posted by JayCT

Mohegan Sun is located right off The Route 2A connector which connects to I-395. It is not hard to get to. The location of Foxwoods was decided by the Mashinucket Pequots. They built it on their reservation. The state had looked at building a freeway there but local opposition was way too strong and a highway would not serve many other than travelers. Just not enough traffic. Jay

No fun to get to either one from north and west.

[just_because]

Without getting into the debate of whether they are just somewhat inconvenient to get to or downright difficult to get to, I think we probably can all agree that the having a massive, massive casino capacity collectively with these 2 facilities in an out of the way place has left us with a problem. And the massive investment in expanding them stupidly continued when the handwriting of doom was clearly on the wall.

When we were originally sold the idea of FW and then MS, it was largely based on people coming from surrounding states with FW/MS largely having a regional monopoly. That is drying up as surrounding states legalize casino gambling. It's not just about MGM in Mass, it's part of a broader trend. Building a third casino to defend against MGM is more short sighted thinking (short sighted thinking created this mess in the first place). So we have a perfect storm of regional casino capacity/supply significantly increasing and overall demand for casino gambling on the decline in general - similar to huge indoor malls as discussed - they are increasingly becoming unfavorable places to spend time among young people.

The only interest that young people will have in casinos is in sneaking into them after they close down in 'urban exploration' of the massive boarded up casinos and posting the pics of the once 'glitzy' and grand gambling halls in decay. Kids love this stuff more than they do sitting in a gold lamay casino. As tacky and lame as they are, it will still be sad to see them decaying in the forests of eastern CT when they really struggle and eventually close down. Sadness more for the stupidity and short sighted thinking that created the mess. In 10-20 years, young people will visit or see the pics of the once grand rubble and think of how different things were in the 'old days' when people from all over new england piled into cars for a weekend at the casino. Old people going there on buses with their social security checks will be the last group to hang on but unfortunately that won't pay for the maintenance on these massive white elephants and the decline will accelerate to closure.

[dazzleman]

We don't need more casinos. The ones we have are doing poorly. Small numbers of casinos do OK when gambling is generally illegal, so people have to come long distances to partake. With casinos opening up all over, the business for these casinos is being siphoned off, and apparently the demand for casinos is finite, so the existing casinos are suffering.

In my opinion, casinos are fool's gold. They add no real economic value, just transferring money usually from those who can least afford to lose it into the hands of the casino operators. Yes, they create some jobs, but the social problems they cause outweigh that. We'd be better encouraging economic development that adds real economic value.

The main impetus for all this is an out of control government that is grabbing for money any way it can. Eventually, that well will run dry too. Opening more and more casinos will not bring more money in the aggregate when the base of casino business is finite. Plus other states who supplied gamblers for the Connecticut casinos are opening their own casinos, so we're losing those people. Opening casinos in more populated urban areas will bring in more financially desperate people with gambling problems who will find it more accessible, and make the already bad social problems in those areas even worse.

[JayCT]

Originally Posted by HeadedWest

No fun to get to either one from north and west.

I-395 connects directly to the Massachusetts Turnpike/I-90 and Route 2 west to Hartford to the north and I-95 to the south. That is pretty decent access if you ask me. Jay

[Wilton2ParkAve]

Originally Posted by just_because

Agree. Casino gambling is to entertainment as Sears and JC Penney are to retailing. The glory days are over and it's well accepted that the current supply outpaces the demand and that imbalance will get worse when the third is built. The new third one will likely do ok for a while but will strip away lots of demand for the other 2 and I don't think it will net much additional casino revenue and the non-casino revenue at FW and MS (hotels, restaurants, conventions, concerts/shows) will suffer the most. Lots of jobs will suffer. These are big, expensive facilities and there will be less funds to maintain them. They will get rough around the edges and start to quickly decay. Just like the big 'glitzy' Atlantic City casinos did.

I guess that's just life and there's not much you can do about it. MS and FW will continue to struggle and decline over time with or without a third casino but the new casino will be the death warrant to FW and MS. Should have known better than to built two of the largest casinos in the country in the middle of eastern CT woods. Horrible foresight.

This. Upvote a thousand times. Casino gambling is one foot in the tar pit extinct. Why are we building another "Sears or Borders' of casinos? I'm against any further development of brick and mortar casino. I doubt anyone can provide a rational counterpoint. It's a race to the bottom.

[JayCT]

The battle over the third casino continues. The Indians appear to have upped their offer to include a $25 million advance on the state's share of the profits from the casino and an offer to slot machines to the off-tract betting facilities in Bridgeport, Waterbury and New Haven. While this seems to be a step in the right direction, it still falls short IMHO. The $25 million should be a licensing fee, not an advanced payment. Will see. Jay

Time Grows Short and Tribes Agree to Add Slots for Waterbury, New Haven and Bridgeport - Hartford Courant

[just_because]

Originally Posted by JayCT

The battle over the third casino continues. The Indians appear to have upped their offer to include a $25 million advance on the state's share of the profits from the casino and an offer to slot machines to the off-tract betting facilities in Bridgeport, Waterbury and New Haven. While this seems to be a step in the right direction, it still falls short IMHO. The $25 million should be a licensing fee, not an advanced payment. Will see. Jay

Time Grows Short and Tribes Agree to Add Slots for Waterbury, New Haven and Bridgeport - Hartford Courant

Bridgeport, Waterbury and New Haven are 3 of the 4 poorest cities in CT. I fail to see how introducing slot machines into these high poverty communities "seems to be a step in the right direction". Pretty sad.

[ads94]

Originally Posted by just_because

Bridgeport, Waterbury and New Haven are 3 of the 4 poorest cities in CT. I fail to see how introducing slot machines into these high poverty communities "seems to be a step in the right direction". Pretty sad.

Sad reality is that these people are the ones who are prone to gamble the most. The state is simply looking to exploit this fact to gain more revenue. It is incredibly distasteful.