For years, tribal casinos in Connecticut were the only game in town but that's changing with new options in the Northeast.

The Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation and the Mohegan Tribe were hit hard by the recession. Now they are seeing threats from New York, where a non-Indian facility recently opened in New York City, and Massachusetts, where three casinos will be opening in the coming years.

"It's another development in the saga of increased competition in the Northeast, which is slowly eroding their monopoly," Clyde Barrow, a gaming expert at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, told The Cape Cod Times.

Even the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe is taking a cautious approach for its casino in Massachusetts. Plans for a $1 billion facility were scaled back to a $500 million investment that will be built in stages.

"We've been very careful to consider current and future market conditions to ensure that our destination resort casino in Taunton is profitable and successful," Chairman Cedric Cromwell told the paper.

The tribe is financing the proposed casino with the help of the Genting Group, a Malaysian company that operates the non-Indian facility in New York City. The Mohegans, in announcing layoffs of more than 300 gaming jobs, cited the Resorts World Casino as a new competitor.

The Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation, meanwhile, is trying to regain its footing after reaching a deal to restructure $2.2 billion in gaming-related debt. The tribe is hiring for a new Pequot Outpost Convenience Center near its casino and plans to open an outlet mall at the casino.

Get the Story:
Mohegan Sun casino lays off hundreds (The Cape Cod Times 10/4)
Sun to pay $8M-$10M in severance costs (The New London Day 10/4)
One casino expands, another lays off workers (WTNH-TV 10/3)

Related Stories:
Mohegan Tribe to pay up to $10M in severance for gaming jobs (10/3)
Mashantucket Tribe releases details of $2.2B gaming debt deal (10/2)
Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe confident of casino land-into-trust (9/25)