Column: Mashantucket casino facing competition from backers

Wednesday, September 26, 2012  

"Standing inside the cavernous slot machine hall of the new Resorts World Casino at the Aqueduct race track in Queens, N.Y., I thought I could easily have been inside either one of Connecticut's casinos.

You don't have to be someone who doesn't care much for casino culture to note that they are all pretty much alike.

The colors might be a little different, and the carpet is newer and fresher in Queens, but I didn't notice much to distinguish it from Foxwoods or Mohegan Sun.

It's true the Connecticut casinos are built out as resorts, with hotel rooms, full restaurants, theaters, golf and even swimming. They are also real casinos, with table games, while Resorts World still only has electronic table games, with fake dealers on television screens.

But this summer, the New York casino trucked right by both Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun in its monthly slot machine win. It's on the New York subway system, less than a half hour from midtown Manhattan. Never mind that two-lane stretch of Route 2, or taking a ferry from Orient Point, Long Island, to New London, to board a bus."

Get the Story:
David Collins: Foxwoods' Malaysian backers compete with themselves (The New London Day 9/26)