Connecticut’s governor has told state legislators that the only casino expansion proposal he’ll sign is one that doesn’t interfere with the state’s existing exclusivity deal with two gaming tribes.

Last Friday, Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy (pictured) waded into the contentious debate over whether the state should (a) permit the Mohegan and Mashantucket Pequot tribes to open a joint venture casino off tribal land near East Windsor, or (b) launch an open tender for a third casino license in which private firms like MGM Resorts could compete.

Malloy told the CT Mirror that he “will not sign a transaction or bill that puts into real danger our existing arrangement with the tribal nations.” The two tribes, which run the Foxwoods Resort Casino and Mohegan Sun Casino on their respective tribal lands, currently pay the state 25% of their slots revenue – worth roughly $260m this year – in exchange for exclusivity over casino operations in the state.

The tribes want to run their East Windsor casino as a hedge against MGM Springfield, the $950m facility scheduled to open just over the Massachusetts border in September 2018. MGM has mounted legal challenges of the proposal to award the off-reservation casino license to the tribes without a public tender.