It was reported that two of the bitter rival Indian tribes from Connecticut agreed and made a united pitch to build an $800 million resort casino complex.
The rivalry between Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation and Mohegan Tribe run as long as 400 years. Both tribe leaders made a united speech in front of the local lawmakers and warned that if rejected the state could lose more than 18,000 jobs. Local experts are suggesting that, the biggest test for these tribal leaders would be to convince their own people.
In a statement Mohegan Tribe Chairman Kevin Brown, a retired U.S. Army Colonel said, “I spent a good portion of my life in Iraq trying to unite the Sunni and Shia tribal leaders. Now I’m doing it at home.” The West point Graduate was famous in Iraq for trying to bring peace between the Shia and Sunnis in Iraq. In his appearance at Tuesday’s Public Safety Committee hearing Brown said, they understand the gravity of the situation. Chairman of the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation, Rodney Butler, was also present. Brown said, “Even though our tribes have a long history of fierce competition and even though we are competitors in business today, this threat is serious.”
For two decades the tribes were operating the two largest casinos in the world, Mohegan Sun and Foxwoods. In a joint statement the two Chairmen said they needed to take action in order to protect their interest from the outside competitors. After discussing with their tribal council they decided to meet with lawmakers to introduce a new legislation which will allow them to run as small as three small casinos. The legislation was cleared by Massachusetts voters on November 5.
Brown said, “We had to start moving forward because it was game on. Competition from Massachusetts became a definite reality.” It was previously reported that, the tribes were teaming up on different issues in recent times to protect their interest. In the joint statement Butler and Brown said the timing was right, as Butler said, “The stars were aligning.”
It was reported that, local lawmakers were requesting the tribes to come up with plan to protect the jobs in their area. The tribes have the exclusive gambling rights, under the agreement that transfers 25 percent of slot-machine revenue to the state. State Rep. Stephen Dargan said, “We reached out to tribes and said, ‘Hey, you guys aren’t really helping the cause here. You guys need to reach out to the respective leadership of the four caucuses’. The tribes started doing that the past month or so to try and sell what that product is.”
Butler said, “It doesn’t come without its challenges for certain. He then added, “There’s some longstanding hard feelings that go back for centuries. People have a hard time letting some of those things go.”