Mohegan Sun

Mohegan Sun
Address	1 Mohegan Sun Boulevard Uncasville, Connecticut 06382-1355
Opening date	October 12, 1996
Theme	Native American
No. of rooms	1,356
Total gaming space	364,000 sq ft (33,800 m2)
Permanent shows	Connecticut Sun during WNBA season
Signature attractions	Mohegan Sun Arena Connecticut Sun The Wolf 102.3FM Radio Station
Notable restaurants	Michael Jordan's Steakhouse Todd English's Tuscany Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville
Casino type	Land
Owner	Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority
Previous names	none
Years renovated	2001 2002
Website	www.mohegansun.com

Mohegan Sun, located in Uncasville, Connecticut, is the second largest casino in the United States with 364,000 sq ft (33,800 m²) of gaming space.^[1][2] It is located on 240 acres (97 ha) along the banks of the Thames River. It is at the heart of the scenic foothills of southeastern Connecticut, where 60 percent of the state's tourism is concentrated. It features the 12,000-seat capacity Mohegan Sun Arena, home of the Women's National Basketball Association's Connecticut Sun. It houses a 350-seat Cabaret Theatre, the 300-seat Wolf Den, and 100,000 sq ft (9,300 m²) of meeting and function room space, including the Northeast’s largest ballroom^[3] and 130,000 sq ft (12,000 m²) of retail shopping. It is the home of New London's WMOS FM radio station.

The casino contains slot machines, gaming tables including poker, blackjack, craps, roulette, Caribbean stud poker, keno and baccarat. The race book offers live horse or greyhound racing from around the U.S. as well as from Australia and England. It also offers wagering on jai-alai from Florida.

History

Further information: Mohegan Indians v. Connecticut

The development of the Mohegan Sun began in 1992 with RJH Development and LMW Investments of Connecticut, and Slavik Suites Inc. proposed the idea of developing a casino with the Mohegan tribe. The three companies formed Trading Cove Associates (TCA), which provided the Mohegans with financial support, tribal attorneys, and advisers to assist in the tribe's effort to gain official recognition as a people. In March 1994 they gained federal recognition as a sovereign people, opening the way to develop a casino. Sol Kerzner, head of Kerzner International (formerly Sun International), became involved with a 50 percent interest in TCA. Waterford Gaming had the other 50 percent interest in TCA. The Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority (MTGA) hired TCA to oversee development and construction of the casino.^[4]

The casino and resort first opened on October 12, 1996.^[5] In 2000, Trading Cove Associates gave complete control of the resort to the Mohegan tribe; TCA still receives a 5% dividend on the gross revenue generated by Mohegan Sun until 2014.^[6]

Features

• The Casino of the Sky has a functional planetarium utilizing fiber optics to display the sun, moon, and stars accompanying the lighting effects of the Wombi Rock, which is a three-story high crystal mountain crafted of alabaster and more than 12,000 individual plates of hand-selected onyx from quarries in Iran, Pakistan, and Mexico; which were transported to Carrara, Italy and fused into glass.
• A 55 ft (17 m) high indoor waterfall called "Taughannick Falls", representing a treacherous crossing point during the tribe's migration.
• The decor is Native American in style in many aspects. The artwork throughout the casino and the structural design has Native American feel. In addition, several mechanical wolves stand high atop rock structures inside the gaming areas that occasionally sit back and howl lightly.
• A new buffet called the Seasons Buffet replaced both the Seasons and Sunburst Buffet.

Economic impact

Mohegan Sun employs some 10,000 local employees, with about 40% female and 60% male, and brought in $1.62 billion in revenues in 2007.^[7] Concerts and boxing events bring further temporary employment and revenues. The casino also submits about 25% of its revenues from slot machines to the State of Connecticut.^[8] However, this impact has not been without costs to the tribe and local communities. The Mohegan Tribe is $1.6 billion in debt^[9] while local communities have complained about increased local costs for services associated with casino-related traffic, crime and social welfare service demands.^[10]

Expansion

Local

In November 2006, the tribe announced a $740 million expansion titled Project Horizon. The project was originally scheduled be completed in 2010, with phases of the expansion being completed prior to that. The expansion included the "Casino of the Wind," which opened in August 2008 and features 650 slot machines, 28 table games, and 42-table poker room.^[2] It will also add 1,000 new hotel rooms, including 300 House of Blues themed rooms, accessible through a separate lobby.^[11] However, in September 2008, Mohegan Sun placed the Project Horizon expansion on hold, due to the economic recession affecting the regional gaming markets. The feasibility of the expansion would be reevaluated in approximately 12 months.^[12] In 2010, the tribe had a $58.1 million impairment charge which halted any work on the project. Project Horizon has since been terminated.^[13]

In May 2011, the Mohegan Sun announced that the casino would be expanding by building a new 300 to 500 room hotel. The expansion is to accommodate the growing demand of hotel rooms at the casino. The official size of new hotel and the time-line of its construction will not be known until the Mohegans sign a deal with the developer. The third-party developer will construct and own the new facility, unlike the existing hotel which is owned and operated by the Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority.^[13]

Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs

Main article: Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs

On January 25, 2005, Mohegan Sun acquired its first gaming venture outside of Connecticut with its $280 million purchase of the Pocono Downs Racetrack in Plains Township, Pennsylvania from Penn National Gaming.^[14] Mohegan Sun renamed the property "Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs" and began a major expansion. Operation as the first slots casino in the state of Pennsylvania commenced in November 2006.

Plans for Mohegan Sun, Massachusetts

On August 2, 2007, the Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority purchased 150 acres (61 ha) of land in the town of Palmer, Massachusetts, a town in eastern Hampden County, with about 12,000 residents. The land is directly off of exit 8 of the Massachusetts Turnpike. At the present time, they have plans to build a retail center. It is unknown if a casino or any type of gaming will occur or be allowed to occur.^[15] A month later on September 17, 2007, Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick unveiled a proposal to license three full-scale casinos in the state in a bidding process. The locations would be in the western, southeastern, and Boston area of the state.^[16] Both the Massachusetts House of Representatives and Senate have passed legislation to allow casinos in the state, but governor Patrick has refused to sign the legislation due to his objections to allowing slot machines at race tracks. Prospects for legalizing casinos in the state appear to be on hold until after the next legislative session begins in January 2011.^[17] In June 2011, House Speaker Robert A. DeLeo said that a bill to legalize casinos could be taken up by state legislators in July pending the outcome of talks with governor Patrick.^{[18][dated info]}

New York

In May 2011, Mohegan Sun announced plans to expand into New York with a casino in the Catskills. The casino will takeover the Concord Resort development in the town of Thompson, New York. The New York casino will consist of a 258 room hotel, a 75,000 square feet (7,000 m²) casino with 2,100 video lottery terminals and up to 450 electronic table game positions, five restaurants, retail space, harness race track, grandstand and simulcast and 10,000 square feet (930 m²) of ballrooms and meeting space.^[19]

See also

• Foxwoods Resort Casino - Connecticut's other casino.
• Indian gaming
• List of casinos
• Native American gambling enterprises

Notes

1. ^ Boeck, Greg (2007-02-21). "Tribes Making Inroads in Sports Industry". USA Today. http://asp.usatoday.com/community/utils/idmap/13913516.story. Retrieved 2008-08-28. ^{[dead link]}
2. ^ ^{a b} Christoffersen, John (2008-08-28). "Mohegan Sun opening new casino". South Coast Today. http://www.southcoasttoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080828/NEWS/808280348/1018/OPINION. Retrieved 2008-08-28. 
3. ^ Inside Norwich Trip Advisor Retrieved on December 14, 2007
4. ^ "History of Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority". Reference for Business. http://www.referenceforbusiness.com/history2/10/Mohegan-Tribal-Gaming-Authority.html. Retrieved 2007-12-08. 
5. ^ "Felt Jungle". http://www.feltjungle.com/us/casinos/connecticut/mohegansun/. Retrieved 2007-12-16. 
6. ^ Waterford Gaming - Amended And Restated Omnibus Termination Agreement Socratek Retrieved on November 21, 2007
7. ^ "Mohegan Sun". http://www.linkedin.com/companies/mohegan-sun. Retrieved 2009-06-17. 
8. ^ "Casinos Report Slots Revenue Down From '08". Hartford Courant. 2009-06-16. http://www.courant.com/business/hc-casino-slot-revenue-0616,0,7884087.story. Retrieved 2009-06-17. 
9. ^ Mohegan debt not fatal for casino, The Columbian, 23 September 2010.
10. ^ Municipal and state impact of gaming, New England Law Review, 25 April 2003.
11. ^ "Mohegan Sun Announces Project Horizon". Indian Country. 28 November 2006. Archived from the original on 6 December 2006. http://web.archive.org/web/20061210103007/http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096414080. Retrieved 15 December 2007. 
12. ^ "Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority to Suspend Earth Expansion of Mohegan Sun". GlobeNewswire. 2008-09-22. http://www.globenewswire.com/newsroom/news.html?d=150847. Retrieved 2009-04-10. 
13. ^ ^{a b} Kane, Brad (30 May 2011). "Mohegans to build another CT hotel". Hartford Business Journal Online. http://www.hartfordbusiness.com/news18702.html. Retrieved 9 June 2011. 
14. ^ Mohegan Sun Reports Mixed Results Casino City Times Retrieved on 22 November 2007
15. ^ Mohegan Tribe May Join Competition Casino City Times Retrieved on December 19, 2007
16. ^ Massachusetts to Consider Three Casinos for the State New York Times Retrieved on 19 December 2007
17. ^ Appleton, John (14 August 2010). "Tribe still pushing for casino in Palmer". The Republican. http://www.masslive.com/hampfrank/republican/index.ssf?/base/news-28/1281770618264110.xml&coll=1. Retrieved 23 August 2010. 
18. ^ Ring, Dan (6 June 2011). "Massachusetts House Speaker Robert DeLeo eyes casinos debate for July". The Republican. http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2011/06/massachusetts_house_speaker_ro_5.html. Retrieved 9 June 2011. 
19. ^ Ring, Dan (15 May 2011). "Mohegan Sun to expand into New York with casino in Catskills". The Republican. http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2011/05/mohegan_sun_to_expand_into_new.html. Retrieved 9 June 2011. 

External links

• Official website
• Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority
• Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs Racetrack & Slots
• Waterford Gaming
• Kerzner International
• Hirsch Bedner Associates

Coordinates: 41°29′32″N 72°5′29″W / 41.49222°N 72.09139°W / 41.49222; -72.09139