A legislative hearing on Connecticut's plan to add electronic keno to its portfolio of games of luck in an effort to close part of the $1.3 billion dollars budget deficit of the state had an astonishing moment when the head of the gaming agency testified in favor of the keno plan.
Anne M. Noble, the president and CEO of the Connecticut Lottery Corporation said that they fully follow an advertising code of conduct and present the lottery products as a game, never as an option to get out of financial difficulties.
Noble said that they want people using their extra income for gambling and not money meant for other important things. She added that is why they will never market gambling as a solution for financial trouble.
Two Democratic state representatives took exception with Noble's statements. Charles Clemons (D-Bridgeport) said that Noble's statements that the state lottery does not encourage residents to view gambling or keno as an easy way out of financial difficulties when the state plans to use the game as a means to solve the budget deficit is a little hypocritical.
Ernest Hewett (D-New London) said that it is confusing that on one hand, they say that they are against gambling but at the same time they want the $400 million dollars from Indian gaming. The forum on March 2nd, 2010 was called by the public safety committee to hear opinions on Gov. Jodi Rell's proposal to offer six hundred to one thousand electronic keno games around Connecticut as an option to raise an additional $60 million dollars yearly in revenues.
The plan is to help solve the $1.3 billion dollars budget deficit of Connecticut by borrowing against future keno earnings. The Mohegan Tribe and the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation, who manages the Foxwoods Resort Casino and the Mohegan Sun, told lawmakers that by permitting the state to offer keno could affect the tribal-state gaming compact.
The compact requires the tribes to pay 25% of their gross slot machines earnings to the state-an amount that reached more than $430 million dollars in the past years that the economy is in good condition and around $377 million dollars last year.
By contrast, the Connecticut State Lottery yielded a total of $283 million dollars to the general fund in 2009. Both American Indian tribes offer keno at their gaming establishment. Although the game of keno is not the major money drawer at the tribes' casino facilities, the nations are against the state's keno plan based on gaming competitions and contractual obligations.
Mohegan Chief of Staff Chuck Bunnell said that the tribal council believes that state's plan of opening up 600 to 1,000 gaming parlors in Connecticut to offer keno is a violation of the state gaming compact. Lawyers representing both tribes said that they believe that keno is categorized as a casino game and the gaming compact gives the tribes the exclusive right offer casino games in Connecticut.
Gov. Rell's spokesperson at the hearing, budget director Robert Genuario and Division of Special Revenue director Paul Young said that keno is a lottery game and the state could offer it without the approval of the Connecticut legislature.
The director of operations for the Mohegan Tribal Gaming Commission, John Meskel, said that keno is a casino game and it is very close to what they offer at the casino. Meskel said that the reason why they offer it because it is a nice complement to the casino games at their casino. Jackson King, the general counsel for the Mashantucket
Pequot Tribal Nation, Jackson King, said that even if keno is categorized as a lottery game, they have to see whether it is a video facsimile. The tribal nations have an exclusive right to offer video facsimiles in Connecticut.
Last year, Attorney General Richard Blumenthal voiced concerns about Gov. Rell's proposal, stating that it could violate the gaming compact with the tribes. But Deputy Attorney General Carolyn K Querijero, who attended the hearing for Attorney General Blumenthal, could not give a definitive answer on the status of keno.
Jackson King said that if state offers keno, the tribes would not have to file a case and could just stop making payments to Connecticut based on a violation of the gaming compact.
Connecticut would then be faced with the option of filing a lawsuit against the tribes on a claim that they had violated the gaming compact and leave it up to the federal court to decide whether keno is a lottery or casino game.
The tribes might have the advantage in that scenario-the National Indian Gaming Commission (NIGC) has decided that is a considered a casino game. A number of lawmakers have expressed reservations on Gov. Rell's keno plan and the hearing gave them additional reasons to consider the plan thoroughly.
[02-05]
Louis Blechdom
