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Foxwoods Butler Says Tribe Not Advocating For Lower Gambling Age Or Extended Liquor Sales

Posted on May 16th, 2010

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The leader of the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Council, the tribe that owns Foxwoods Resort Casino in Connecticut, said Thursday the tribe is not pushing for changes in the state’s gambling regulations, such as the bringing down of the legal gambling age requirement from 21 to probably 18 and the extension of alcohol sales until 4 a.m. Rodney Butler said the statements he made a day earlier to reporters that the state should consider lowering the legal gambling age and allowing casinos extended hours of alcohol sales were just his own “observations.”

Butler said his remarks were said in view of the circumstances and conditions that are currently surrounding and affecting Foxwoods. The changes could benefit the tribe’s casino, especially at this time when slot machine revenues have been falling for some years. He said, “The (tribal) council hasn’t talked about it, and I’m not suggesting we do it. It’s not some plan we want to bring forward. It’s not something we’re pursuing. It was my personal observation.” The tribe is currently attempting to restructure a debt of over $2 billion. Moreover, increasing competition is threatening from all corners of the region. In New York, state officials announced their plan to conduct bidding to add slot machines to the Aqueduct race track in Queens.

In Massachusetts, the state House approved legislation calling for legalization of two resort casinos and a total of 3,000 slot machines at the state’s race tracks. Legislators in Rhode Island are considering putting a gambling expansion question on the November referendum ballot. Butler said the state and the casinos need to have a more effective campaign effort. He admits that the chances of the state lowering the gambling age limit to oblige casinos are very slim. He said the state has laws on liquor, and it would be next to impossible for the state to bring the gambling age down lower than the drinking age.

With regards to the extension of liquor sales, Butler said he is hoping state legislators would reconsider the issue. Casinos in Connecticut say neighbouring states like New York that sell alcohol until 4.m., and New Jersey where liquor is served 24 hours at Atlantic City casinos, hurt their business. But a large number of lawmakers are opposed to the idea of lowering the legal gambling age and extending the hours to sell alcohol. In 2009, state legislators terminated discussion of round-the-clock liquor sales at the casinos after a fatal accident occurred on Interstate 395 involving an intoxicated driver who had just come from a Mohegan Sun nightclub.