House leaders favor statewide gaming strategy

HARTFORD — House Democratic leadership is advancing a plan for a “comprehensive gaming strategy” for Connecticut instead of pushing a bill that would collect bids for a new casino in Bridgeport because they predict the casino bill would not pass, lawmakers said Wednesday.

“There’s just not enough votes (in favor),” said Rep. Joe Verrengia, D-West Hartford, who chairs the committee that oversees gambling in the state.

Speaker of the House Joe Aresimowicz, D-Berlin, said, “I’m not sure we’ve counted the votes yet,” but made it clear he does not support issuing a request for proposals for a Bridgeport casino without a statewide gaming plan first.

The Bridgeport delegation, for whom a casino is a top priority, has questioned why an RFP could not be issued while a gaming strategy — including casinos, sports betting and the lottery — is developed.

An RFP would not authorize the construction of a casino in Bridgeport; that would require another vote by the General Assembly next year. It would simply collect bids from interested companies — like MGM which has announced a plan for a $700 million seaside casino resort in Bridgeport and a job training center in New Haven.

When asked at the Capitol on Wednesday why not issue an RFP and work on a gaming strategy simultaneously, Aresimowicz said: “I’m open to those those discussions. But think about, we moved with the bill last year to conserve the customer base and everything else for our current casinos here in the state, if we were to drop a casino in Bridgeport, the important flow of traffic from New York to those casinos — which they heavily rely on — would be stopped.”