Very few ways. You win a prize anyway.
PS: read the book
Posted on 09/13/2009 4:35:09 AM PDT by raccoonradio
LEDYARD, Conn. - When the doors at Foxwoods first swung open in 1992, more than poker fanatics and bingo mavens began trekking to the sparkling new casino nestled in the thick forests of the Mashantucket Pequot reservation. Dozens of Pequots traveled from as far away as California and Hawaii to their native lands in southeastern Connecticut. Many came for the promise of a steady job, and to reconnect with a tribe that had come close to extinction. But Foxwoods did not just help revive the Pequot nation; it made it fabulously wealthy. Within a few years, Foxwoods was the world’s largest and most successful casino resort, an entertainment mecca that racked up more than $1 billion annually.
The fortune yielded nice homes, fancy cars, college degrees, community centers for tribal members, and a massive museum of native history. With the money came fame, as Foxwoods’ significance stretched beyond the tribe’s well-being. The Pequots had paved the way for more than 230 tribes across the country to launch their own gaming enterprises (snip)
But now Foxwoods faces financial problems that threaten to tear the tribe apart. Crushed by more than $2 billion in debt from exorbitant expansion, the resort is fighting an uphill battle against sliding revenues because of the economy and increased competition from newer venues. More than 700 layoffs in the last year, or about 6 percent of the workforce, failed to stem the bleeding as slot revenues at the casino continued to drop, plunging 13 percent in July to $63.2 million compared with a year ago.
Foxwoods - once the symbol of the Pequots’ greatest achievement - has become the subject of nationwide speculation that the largest Native American casino could fail.
(Excerpt) Read more at boston.com ...
How’s Mohegan Sun doing?
No idea but I wonder if the recession’s hitting them too.
btw am not one to gamble. Only time I ever went to Foxwoods was to see their “Indian museum”. And while I did visit the casino area of Tunica, MS, all I did was see the new Miss. River museum there.
http://www.tunicariverpark.com/museum.asp
“The casino allowed people to come forward and admit who they are, and it offered a sense of pride and stability. But then it evolved into a sense of entitlement,’’ Rogers said. “This entitlement and one-upmanship and ego is really what’s ruining this tribe and ruining the casino. How much money is enough? At what point do you ask yourself that question? For some people, there’s never enough.’’
Rell has expressed upset that state revenues from the casinos are down. Cry me a river. What did these politicians expect when they allowed these monstrosities?
I worked there for almost 8 years. When I started, the parking lot would be filled by the buses that had brought in the various groups for a day at ‘The Sun”.
When I left the company in late summer ‘08, it was rare to see more than a handful of buses. Mohegan was in a huge expansion as well - but suspended it in the economic downturn.
I do know I would have taken at least a 4% pay cut if I’d stayed, and lost my 401K match among other things. The writing was there on the wall to be seen by anyone that cared to look.
Is this really coming from a FReeper?
"Politician allow"? Excuse me, but it's not up to the politicians to "allow" anything. I don't particularly care for Foxwoods. I think I've been there twice. For small time gambler me (I know what pays for all these Taj Mahal like casinos.) it has none of the pizazz of the places in Vegas (which I haven't been to in 15 years). But it's pretty obvious to me that lots of people do like Foxwoods and places like it. Foxwoods, particularly, is so remote from everything else that one cannot even argue that it is somehow a negative influence on children. That Foxwoods may have been mismanaged "or poisoned a community of people who suddenly achieved a lifestyle they had never imagined," is hardly unique. The same could be said for the entire United States of America. Politicians are hardly the ones to tell us how to run our lives.
ML/NJ
FWIW, I hope you have read: Without Reservation: How a Controversial Indian Tribe Rose to Power and Built the World's Largest Casino ; and see the graft, corruption and legal and political forces behind the creation of Foxwoods. It reads like a detective novel.
Remember when P&W used to be the largest employer in the state? BAWAHAHA!
Nothing funny about that. I worked for Research from '68 to '71. But in some ways the P&W fall isn't too different from the Foxwoods fall. Both were #1 and going along fat, dumb, and happy.
ML/NJ
Read what you wrote.
ML/NJ
Very few ways. You win a prize anyway.
PS: read the book
They've got good management, apparently. The only expansion they've done in their 10 years is to quadruple the size of the restaurant. They get tons of diners attracted by the great food at great prices, with the expected gaming revenue that goes with it all.
We're going over for the breakfast special in about an hour. I'm going to have their huge breakfast burrito - gotta be 8 inches long and 4 inches thick, which is accompanied by rice, beans and beverage of choice......$2.95, with no sales tax.
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