By Michelle Libby
The electric excitement of the lights, sounds, smells and potential for riches lure many folks through the doors of Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun casinos in southeastern Connecticut. The Las Vegas-style lights and shows are unrivaled in the area, but the sounds of money jingling from the slot machines or the cry from a winner at the tables make gambling a potentially addictive activity. On Nov. 4, Maine voters will consider whether or not to invite a casino into Oxford County.
Foxwoods Resort Casino is located in a corner of Ledyard, Conn., a town of 15,000 people, comparable to Windham, and is set on the tribal lands of the Mashantucket Pequot Tribe. It also borders North Stonington and Preston, but its effects, good and bad, can be felt around the area and around the state.
“Foxwoods has provided a ton more jobs in a community where a declining defense industry has been downsized,” said Beth Linevitch, a Windham resident who grew up in Ledyard. “It’s great for the economy,” she said.
Her husband, John Linevitch, who also grew up in Ledyard, but now lives in Windham has spent time at the casinos for business as well as for fun. “I have a ton of friends that work at the casino. They’re not great jobs, but the lower paying service jobs provide medical benefits. They are good,” he said, adding as part of the medical benefits there is a pharmacy onsite with discount prescription drugs. Many people work at the casino just for the medical benefits, he said.
There is an infrastructure strain and the roads have been beat on, said John Linevitch.
“Ledyard took a hard line to the casino when it started. (The tribe) still carries the grudge,” he added, saying that very little of the money that flows into Foxwoods flows back to the community. “That town has changed a lot,” he said.
As an agreement between the tribe and the State of Connecticut, 25 percent of slot machine revenue is given to the State of Connecticut to
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divide up between the 169 towns in the state. Foxwoods contributed $2.5 billion in slot machines earnings between its opening in 1992 and April 2007, according to Connecticut Economic Resource Center, Inc. (CERC), a non-profit corporation that provides objective research, marketing and economic development services to local, regional, state and utility entities and policymakers.
According to the town budgets for Ledyard and North Stonington, the casino added $861,415 in revenue to the Ledyard coffers in 2005-06. In North Stonington, the casino line for 2006-07 was $879,945 and for 2008-09 is expected to be almost $1 million.
CERC also said the casinos account for two of the five largest employers in the state with over 20,000 employees in 2007. Most of the employees who work at the casino live in the neighboring towns or on the reservation if they are part of the tribe.
Glen Reynolds, a firefighter in Somers, Conn., about an hour northwest of Ledyard, said that he doesn’t know of anyone from his town who travels to the casino to work, but residents do travel there for the
entertainment. “My opinion is that they have helped. The State gets a certain amount of slot revenue, it created many, many jobs and construction.”
Many residents in the area say they don’t go to the casino. Telli Henson, a resident of North Stonington who has lived there since before the casino and lives only one mile from Foxwoods, said she’s only been to the casino four times.
“Concerts have drawn a lot of people in,” said Reynolds.
“There’s top notch entertainment. Cher, Sugarland, Beyoncé, women’s basketball, it’s a positive for them they don’t have to go to Hartford or Atlantic City to see the shows. It’s certainly an entertainment outlet for some people,” John Linevitch said.
He cited the increase in hotels that have sprung up in the area, creating more jobs. Henson said that the increase in big box stores has been a welcome change. When asked if smaller stores and restaurants in the area have suffered because of the
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The entrance to one of the many casinos at the Foxwoods Resort Casino. Foxwoods is the largest casino complex in the world. Courtesy photo |
casino, Linevitch seemed to believe that most businesses within a 10- to 15-mile radius around the casino have been hurt.
Not all communities have grown by some observations. In Ledyard’s neighboring town Gales Ferry, Ledyard native Bill Kracke said, “It’s the same old beat-down strip malls.” He said he hasn’t seen a difference there.
The schools have changed, said Linevitch. At Ledyard High School, where the students from the reservation attend, “there are now metal detectors and security guards at the school itself,” he said. “We used to be strong academically, but now it’s mid-pack among high schools.” He doesn’t know for sure if it’s casino related, he said.
The largest change Henson has seen has been in the increase in traffic by her house. “On my little road people go too fast,” she said.
“The Indians do a really nice job making the work they do attractive,” Henson said. “The areas around the casinos look better.” When asked if the casino had made a difference in her taxes, she answered, “Can’t say it does for me. North Stonington has to pay for more police stuff. The state doesn’t help with that. They give 25 percent back to the state. You always wonder where it goes. It’s not working on North Stonington taxes to have the casino here,” Henson said.
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By all accounts crime has increased in the area. From burglaries to drugs and prostitution, Henson figures it’s a
part of living in a casino area. The Ledyard Police Department, which employs 22 officers and one State Trooper for a town of 15,000 saw an increase of 172 percent in calls for service from 2003 to 2006. Criminal incidents in that same time frame jumped 130 percent and arrests were up 85 percent, according to the Ledyard Police Department web site.
CERC determined that “Native American casino gaming is an integral component of the Connecticut economy. Absent the casinos, eastern Connecticut would be in the economic doldrums.”
According to www.mindfully.org in a report in 2005, “The two casinos draw about 25 million visitors annually, with about 20 percent of them visiting other attractions in the area, according to a recent study for the Southeastern Connecticut Council of Governments.”
Although the casino in Maine would be different from the two in Connecticut, many similarities would likely still exist. If it will be approved and how it would impact Oxford County and our local towns remains to be seen.
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