Fed gov’t stops cock-blocking Connecticut tribes’ JV casino

Connecticut’s proposed joint venture tribal casino has cleared a major roadblock now that the federal government appears to have finally dropped its opposition to the project.

On Thursday, the US Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) announced that the revised gaming compact between Connecticut’s state government and the Mohegan tribe – which operates Connecticut’s Mohegan Sun casino – “is taking effect.”

The document is dated May 25, but won’t be officially published until Friday, June 1. The document tersely notes that the amended gaming compact is taking effect because the Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke “took no action” within the required 45 days.

The amendment makes no mention of the state’s compact with Foxwoods Resort Casino’s owner, the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation, which has formed a joint venture called MMCT to build a casino off tribal lands in the northern part of the state near East Windsor.