“The legislative proposal announced today mirrors industry best practices by establishing a truly competitive, open and transparent process,” Uri Clinton, MGM senior vice president and legal counsel, said in a statement.

MGM favors an open bidding process, so it can win business away from a competitor. We need to move forward and allow other business.” She added that a competitive process was the only fair way to pick an operator, with “nothing behind closed doors.” “It could take years, and we don’t have years,” she said. Toni Walker, the bill’s co-sponsor, said that the federal government has held up approval of the state’s latest gaming compact with the tribes - after MGM’s private campaign by two high-powered lobbyists - creating a delay that Connecticut and its shaky financial outlook don’t have time to wait out. Toni Walker, D-New Haven, addresses the rally in support of the Bridgeport casino plan. So workers would have a union and earn living wages and benefits. Essentially, that means MGM, which already works with UNITE HERE at 27 hotels like the Bellagio and Mandalay Bay on the Vegas Strip, won’t interfere with organizing employees at the new project. The partnership deals New Haven into the pack with Bridgeport as a political team to work alongside UNITE HERE in Hartford, where a legislative showdown against Native American tribes will take place.Īt Tuesday’s meeting, Bob Proto, UNITE HERE - Local 35’s longtime president, announced that he has struck a neutrality agreement for the proposed casino. “This resort will need people who handle money and luggage people who plan menus, prepare the food and serve it people who buy advertising and people who manage the payroll for all those jobs,” Mayor Toni Harp said. The company has also agreed to open a workforce development center in New Haven, where 2,000 employees would be trained. A casino there has been an ambition for multiple developers, including Donald Trump. Betting on a strong market in Southern Connecticut, with its access to trains from Manhattan and ferries from Long Island, MGM has proposed building a $675 million, waterfront casino in Bridgeport.

Mgm bridgeport casino