The secretary referenced by Doba is Ryan Zinke, the former interior secretary who resigned last December. “We should also all remember the last time MGM waded into the DC swamp it resulted in multiple investigations, the convening of a grand jury and the resignation of a cabinet secretary,” Doba wrote. The department declined to comment for this story.Īndrew Doba, a spokesman for the MMCT Venture, took a shot at MGM in an email, saying that the gaming giant has filed suit because “that’s what MGM does.” In a written statement, MGM accused the DOI of preventing it from “competing on equal terms in Connecticut.” The filing includes language that blames the department for “facilitating” off-reservation gaming by the venture – not just in East Windsor – but anywhere in Connecticut. Now, as a proposal to build a separate MMCT facility in Bridgeport floats around the Connecticut General Assembly, MGM has sued the Interior Department in court. MGM had lobbied the department hard to keep the Mashantucket Mohegan Connecticut Venture, or MMCT – featuring the tribes that run Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun respectively – from getting the federal permission it needed to have casino gaming off tribal land.
Originally, the DOI was given just 45 days to approve or deny changes made to gaming compacts in Connecticut resulting from the awarding of the new license.
