Editorial: Connecticut giving up gaming money

Monday, July 27, 2009  

"While Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell and Democratic legislative leaders argued for months about how to raise money for a state budget, millions owed the state by two Indian casinos is sitting around uncollected.

Sixteen million dollars, covering a four-year stretch from 2004 to 2008, is the staggering figure revealed in a 390-page report made at the state's request by the Spectrum Gaming Group, of Linwood, N.J., an independent research firm.

So, it is to that tune that taxpayers are picking up part of the expense of regulating the Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun casinos, something that was not supposed to happen under the original agreements with the tribes.

The uncollected money is related to the cost of state-employed gambling regulators, liquor control agents and police assigned to the casinos.

Though Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal said in 1998 that the state is entitled to recover all its costs, that hasn't happened.

Gov. M. Jodi Rell's response to the finding was disappointing."

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Editorial: State giving up on casino money (The Connecticut Post 7/25)