Reno Gazette-Journal from Reno, Nevada • Page 28

Monday, March 7, 1994 Reno Gazette-Journal Gaming Casino upsets power balance Gaming Index The USA Capital Composite Gaming Index is a market value weighted index tracking the performance of 18 gaming companies representative of the Industry. The Index was set equal to 100 at Dec. 31, 1989. Foxwoods: Huge gambling operation bothers some neighbors. Irf.llWJJ'IJ.I.II.I.tfgKEI Last Week's close: 190.00 net change the most profitable.

It has become a model for would-be Indian casino operators across the nation and an example of the conflicts such operations can bring. Almost overnight, Foxwoods has become the hot spot in this corner of the Northeast. Most of the customers come not from New York or Boston though each is just two to three hours away but from Connecticut and Rhode Island and nearby parts of Massachusetts. Traffic, though, is only a small piece of the evolving relationship between the tribe and the residents of the nearby towns of Ledyard, North Stonington and Preston. It's a relationship that for much of the past year has been centered on the tribe's effort to annex additional By Jonathan Weber LOS ANGELES TIMES On a drive north along fiMTii ber to require their town governments to oppose annexation.

Following the votes, Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt intervened, saying he would name a "facilitator" to promote dialogue between the towns and the tribe. The appointment is expected any day. The Pequot note that for all the noise made by a few local residents, they have an excellent relationship with the state government and many localities a little farther away. And then there are the jobs right now about 8,050 of them. Many pay poorly, with salaries starting at around $6 an hour.

But many do not, and the Pequot are proud of the fact that all full-time employees get full benefits and free meals. Most casino workers interviewed spoke highly of their employer. Jobs are especially welcome in a region long dependent on a few big defense contractors. The Electric Boat a submarine builder in nearby Groton, still employs 228 31 32 33 34 Jmmmmm'- Week's change: 0.65 12-month high: 208.19 12-month low: 13028 Source: USA Capital Management Gazette-Journal about 13,000 people, but that's down from 22,000 just a few years ago. And more cuts are Route 2, amid the postcard-pretty 3 woodlands of southeastern Cp necticut, the Fox woods.

flight Stakes Bingo and Casino appears out of nowhere, a baroque ptesS in teal and white that domijuijes-rj the countryside from a lordly "nlir-i top perch. It's an unlikely establishment lnu more ways than one: an immense Las Vegas-style casino and "tioter plunked down amid quainTtJjpws England villages and centuries-Oia dairy farms. It is owned by JPSftyT long-forgotten tribe of American Indians and poised to become a major destination resort. For the Mashantucket Pequot, the casino represents a historic turning of the tables, a restoration of the dominant economic position they enjoyed before being all but exterminated more than 300 years ago. For the tribe's partners including Burbank, Iwerks Entertainment, which recently opened the first of its hightech "Cinetropolis" entertainment centers at the complex it is a chance to test the latest concepts in family fun.

But for the non-Indian locals, who until a few years ago had never given the Pequot a second thought, the casino is a strange and troubling phenomenon. It is a source of jobs and many are grateful for that but some wonder whether casino gambling is the solution for the area's economy. Many have joined a vociferous campaign to block a proposed expansion of the Pequot Complete information on all weekly Business Licenses, Statistics, Activities and Construction information and subscriptions for the RENO BUILDER may be obtained by writing Reno Builders Exchange, 500 Ryland Street, Suite 100, Reno, Nevada 89502. Or call: 702-786-4468. Bennett resigns post as Circus Circus CEO Wjlliam Bennett, who guided Circus Circus into a gaming giant from its beginnings as a small hotel on the Las Vegas Strip, has resigned as chief executive officer but will remain as chairman of the company.

Bennett, who has headed Circus Circus for 20 years, will be replaced by company president Clyde Turner. The management change was announced at the same time the company released its fourth-quarter earnings, which showed a 27.5 percent jump in quarterly profits and record revenues for the fiscal year. New Jersey casinos take February fall February gross revenues for the Atlantic City's 1 2 casinos decreased 4.4 percent from $235.6 million to $225.3 million when compared with figures from the same month last year. Thomas Ballezzi, president of the Casino Association of New Jersey, blamed the drop on major snow and ice storms. Revenues from slot machines accounted for 1 53.9 million during February, while table game income was $7 1 .4 million, according to unofficial figures released by the casino association.

The table game figures included $3. 1 million from poker offered at nine casinos. Three casinos reported slight gains over February of 1 993. Sands reported the largest gain, at 7.4 percent, on gross revenues of 1 7.3 million, up from 1 6. 1 million the previous year.

Showboat was up 5.6 percent to 1 9.5 million from 1 8.4 million. The Trump Taj Mahal reported a 2. 1 percent gain of $3 1 million over $30.4 million during the same period of 1 993. Trump Plaza posted the largest decrease 1 2.2 percent from 1 8.9 million to 1 6.6 million. Nevada casinos win taping exemption Nevada casinos have won an exemption from a bill in Congress that limits how companies can use video cameras and other devices to watch their workers.

The exemption for casinos was negotiated with Rep. Pat Williams, who chairs the House labor and management relations subcommittee, by gaming executives who enlisted the help of Rep. James Bilbray, D-Nev. Atlantic City casinos and casinos on Indian reservations also are exempt from the bill, and casinos in other states can be if they adopt electronic monitoring rules similar to ones already on the books in Nevada and New Jersey. Besides casinos, exemptions also were given to industries where laws already exist requiring the use of electronic monitoring to detect criminals, or to ensure the integrity of the business, such as financial service companies and firms regulated by the Drug Enforcement Administration.

Other companies, however, would have to notify workers before electronically monitoring their activities, and inform them how the surveillance would be conducted. Rio to build $75 million addition The Rio Suites Hotel Casino in Las Vegas has announced plans for a $75 million addition, citing the booming growth in local and tourist traffic. The resort opened a 437-suite hotel tower addition just six months ago. The new project will give the hotel a total of 1 ,400 suites. It will also include expansion of the resort's casino and buffet areas.

House committee kills gaming bill The House Judiciary Committee killed by tie vote a bill that would have legalized casino gambling on eight riverboats and at two hotel resorts in West Virginia. The bill would have allowed two hotel resorts with more than 650 rooms to have casinos. Nevada casinos increase January wins Nevada casinos won 598.4 million from gamblers in January for a 1 3.8 percent increase over the same month a year earlier. The monthly gaming win includes $3 1 1 .2 million won by resorts on the Las Vegas Strip for a 1 6. 1 percent gain strong, but down about 5 percent from the 21 percent gain reported in December.

Downtown Las Vegas remained down despite some recovery from a big December slump caused by gamblers flocking to the new MGM, Luxor and Treasure Island mega-resorts. Associated Pess John C. Renshaw Thomas F. Kummer Christopher L. Kaempfer Martha J.

Ashcraft Michael J. Bonner John N. Brewer Von S. Heinz Gerald D. Waite land to its reservation.

The Pequot, with just 305 members, already own the land in question one 247-acre parcel and an additional 1,100 acres of lakes and forests that were once a Boy Scout camp. With backing from their financial partner a Malaysian development company called Kien Huat Realty and support from the casino management team led by veteran Atlantic City gaming attorney G. Michael Brown, they plan to build two golf courses, a theme park, tennis courts and a skeet-shooting range, among other attractions, as well as some tribal health and safety facilities. At issue is whether the Pequot should be allowed to add the land to their reservation and thus render their development exempt from taxes, zoning regulations, health and safety rules and all other local and state laws. Under federal law, such annexations are permitted as a way to promote the welfare of Native Americans.

The Pequot say they need the land and have a right to annex it. The towns, however, say there's only a right to apply for the annexation and that the application should be denied because the tribe doesn't need additional land for economic health and self-sufficiency. "No Annexation. Not One Acre." is the slogan of community groups that are fighting the tribe's plan. While local officials take a more pragmatic view of the issue and are inclined to at least consider negotiating the Pequot at one point offered each town 1 million a year for five years not to oppose annexation the activists are uncompromising.

"It's our town," said Madeline Jeffery, a weaver and former schoolteacher who has lived in North Stonington for 23 years. "The boundaries were set in 1 7 1 7. We have a history, we have a heritage. If you want to buy land, fine, but go along with our rules." Jeffery and other activists succeeded in forcing local referen-dums on the issue, and residents voted overwhelmingly in Novem- formerly partners of the law firm of Vargas Bartlett take pleasure in announcing that they have formed a new law firm Kummer Kaempfer Bonner Renshaw AND THAT H. Gregory Nasky formerly a partner of Vargas Bartlett has become of counsel to the firm and that Elliott r.

Eisner formerly associated with Vargas Bartlett has become a partner of the firm AND THAT Shari Cassin Patterson Georlen K. Spangler Sherwood N. Cook Daurean G. Sloan Anthony A. Zmaila John C.

Jeppsen P. Blake Allen L. Joe Coppedge David A. Barksdale George J. Claseman Nominally, trie controversy is about taxes, zoning and obscure Interior Department regulations.

The real issue, though, is far more profound: Just whose land is this anyway, and who has the right to make decisions about development? "We need more developable land," said John Holder, a tribe member who oversees construction at Foxwoods. "People (who oppose expansion) say: 'This farm has been in our family for 300 Yeah, ever since you took it away from the Indians." If the Mashantucket Pequot and the three towns abutting the reservation agree on one thing, it is that the turnabout has happened incredibly quickly. It's been just two years since the tribe, having successfully fought a decade-long legal battle, replaced its modest bingo parlor with a fullblown casino. And it has been barely a year since the Pequot installed their first slot machines, following a hugely controversial deal with the state of Connecticut. Yet Foxwoods is now the largest casino in the nation outside Las Vegas.

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