As casinos start to reopen, state puts up COVID-19 warnings
MASHANTUCKET, Conn. (AP) — Electronic signs warned travelers to two of the world's largest casinos about COVID-19 on Monday, the first day they partially reopened to the general public over the governor's objections.
Four portable signs installed by the state Department of Transportation near Foxwoods Resort Casino and Mohegan Sun flashed “Avoid Large Crowds, Don't Gamble With COVID” as cars — many with Massachusetts, Rhode Island and New York license plates — passed by.
Democratic Gov. Ned Lamont had asked the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation, owners of the Foxwoods Resort Casino, and the Mohegan Tribe, owners of Mohegan Sun, to delay their reopenings, to no avail.
Both casinos, which have been hit hard economically by the pandemic, reopened some areas over the weekend to invited patrons.
“I wasn’t happy about it,” Lamont said Monday morning on WNPR. “I thought we should have waited until late June like our neighbors. I thought that would have been safer for employees, safer for customers and safer for the region.”
Rodney Butler, chairman of the Mashantucket Pequot tribe, conceded the signs were “kind of catchy" and credited Lamont with not taking stronger action. At one point, the governor, who has limited power when it comes to sovereign nations, suggested pulling the casinos' liquor licenses.
“All in, when you think about everything that we were talking about, between he and I and the Mohegans, I think he really did a great job in managing the situation, all things considered. There was a lot of pressure for him to do things that were a little bit more aggressive," said Butler.
He said he believes Lamont “got comfortable” with the safety steps the tribes were taking after having his commissioners walk through the properties and...