Casino task force receives conflicting opinions

A task force seeking to gauge the impact of a proposed $650 million resort and casino in Sanford encountered conflicting opinions during meetings with various officials and casino operators in eastern Connecticut.

More than a decade after Foxwoods Resort Casino opened, the neighboring towns remain divided over whether Indian gaming is a boom or a bust.

The Sanford committee received stern warnings, confident sales pitches and a batch of competing statistics as the members met with selectmen, planners and Foxwoods officials on Monday.

Everyone in Connecticut seemed to agree that casinos produce jobs. But they debated whether these are good jobs that are worth the problems elected officials say they now see in their towns.

The most common piece of advice elected officials gave the panel was to hire a lawyer to negotiate terms. Local officials said their towns got a poor deal and now taxpayers are footing the bill.

“All I heard is, ‘We lost on this, we lost on that,'” said John Rossiter, one of eight members of the task force, which is expected to make its final report to town selectmen on Oct. 21.

Maine voters will decide Nov. 4 whether to allow the Passamaquoddy and Penobscot tribes to operate casino gambling. The tribes have taken an option on 360 acres in south Sanford as a site for the project, and if the statewide referendum passes, Sanford would then have to decide whether it wants the casino.

The trip to eastern Connecticut, which has two of the largest casinos in the world, is part of the panel’s effort to understand the ramifications of a casino in the town.

Monday’s visit started with elected officials in three Connecticut towns that border Foxwoods giving a litany of reasons gambling is bad for their communities.

They blamed the casinos for an increase in suicides, an increasing child poverty rate, more drunken driving arrests and a lack of affordable housing. They struggled to come up with any benefits.

The problems, they said, include 10 to 20 casino workers living in one house because of the shortage of affordable housing. The only economic development in some nearby towns, they said, has been a handful of new doughnut shops and gas stations.

“They call it a casino and resort. It is a bar and gambling hall. … It will totally consume your community,” said Nicholas H. Mullane II, a North Stonington selectman.

The assessment at Foxwoods was far different. Officials said the casino has 9,000 full-time and 2,000 part-time employees, pays millions of dollars to the state each year and provides work to local businesses.

Everyone involved in Monday’s meetings warned that direct comparisons between Connecticut and Maine are unwise.

Foxwoods alone has 4.7 million square feet of space, 1,416 hotel rooms and 25 places to eat. The Sanford proposal calls for a 120,000-square-foot casino building, eight restaurants and 875 guest rooms.

Another major difference is that Foxwoods is built on tribal land. A casino in Sanford would go on land the two Maine tribes have options to buy. Also, Maine law would require tribes to follow state and local regulations. That is not the case in Connecticut.