Word: mohegan
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...flat for the first time in three decades, and expansion was a nonstarter in several state ballot boxes last November. Even the gambling mecca itself, Las Vegas, is trying to remake itself as a "family" destination. One area where analysts are still bullish: Indian casinos. The success of the Mohegan Sun and Foxwoods Casinos in Connecticut has Merrill Lynch calling the state "the hottest gambling market in the country." But attempts by the federal government to regulate gambling on Indian lands are likely to result in fierce opposition. In fact...
During a visit to the Kennedy Library, of all places, I spot a brochure for the newly opened Mohegan Sun Casino and it gets me thinking...
...steer him towards a discussion of the cultural, economic and political issues involved in building a tribal casinos, but Mancini pleads ignorance. He doesn't know about the tribe, only the casino. What he can tell me, however, is that, "Mohegan Sun keeps its Indian theme." In fact, one of the restaurants is named after the grandsons of Uncas, the founding father of the tribe. "So the casino serves Native American cuisine?" I ask, at once impressed and surprised. But Mancini pauses, apparently flustered by my line of reasoning. "No, it's Italian food...
When I ask about attendance, though, he's terse. "It's dreadful, the greyhound industry is going through its absolute worst times." Before I get a chance to prompt him, he's blaming Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun. They definitely siphon off business, he says, particularly among young people. "When greyhound racing came on the scene, it was one of the only legal forms of gambling," he explains, "but now our customers are dying off, and there's no one to replace them...
...Monday I finally get in touch with Jane Fossett, the vice-chair of the Mohegan tribe. She tells me the sad history of the tribe and how the money generated by the casino will go to fund health care and housing for the elderly. I ask her--after she concedes that "ownership isn't part of our culture"--if there is a contradiction in the tribe entering a business venture that grates against its traditional values. But she shrugs off the question as naive. "We have to live in a non-Indian world," she lectures me, "and in order...