Springfield, Mass. — Jules St. Pierre’s penchant for poker puts him in the middle of the casino border war.

“I’m exactly what they’re afraid of,” the 77-year-old Springfield resident said Tuesday, referring to Foxwoods Resort Casino, where he’s been playing cards once a week for decades. “Chances are, once MGM’s open, I’ll take the easy way out and play right here. I’ll be eight minutes away by car. If I was young, or in an emergency, I could probably walk it.”

St. Pierre might still make the 75-mile drive to Foxwoods — and occasionally Mohegan Sun — once in a while “just to see the boys,” but he said MGM’s going to be his new home “as long as all these casinos they’re building don’t knock each other out of business.”

He joined hundreds who braved the chill to attend a ceremonial groundbreaking for MGM Springfield, the $800 million resort casino that’s expected to be the Bay State’s first destination gaming palace when it opens in 2017. Executives from Las Vegas-based MGM Resorts International and state and local officials spoke at the event, held in a parking lot outside a dilapidated school building in the city’s South End. All around, the ravages of the 2011 tornado that swept through the area were plainly evident.

Stephen Crosby, chairman of the Massachusetts Gaming Commission, called it a “genuinely historic moment,” hailing the project’s promise of 2,000 construction jobs, 3,000 permanent casino jobs and an estimated $250 million a year in revenue for the state.

“We’re going to put Springfield and western Massachusetts back to work,” Domenic Sarno, the Springfield mayor, said.

The project threatens to devastate business at Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun, whose tribal owners, the Mashantucket Pequots and Mohegans, are backing a bill that would enable them to operate up to three more medium-size casinos in Connecticut. The first such facility would likely be opened near the state’s northern border, where it would go head-to-head with MGM in a bid for the so-called “convenience” gamblers who like to play close to home.

In a joint statement Tuesday, Kevin Brown, the Mohegan chairman, and Rodney Butler, the Mashantucket chairman, said they were “enormously encouraged” by statewide support in Connecticut for the legislation they believe would enable the tribes to compete with MGM.

“In the weeks since legislative leaders announced the proposed bill, lawmakers have been open to understanding the potentially devastating impact a gaming resort on the state’s border could have on jobs here (Connecticut), and voted to move the bill forward,” the chairmen said. “Today, competition on our borders is a reality, and we are grateful for the leaders of the General Assembly, who understand the economic threat, and are taking steps to protect the thousands of Connecticut jobs that will be lost in 2017 if no action is taken.”

Jim Murren, MGM Resorts’ chairman and chief executive officer, said he was “a little bit bemused” by Connecticut’s response to MGM Springfield and other competition that lies ahead in Massachusetts and upstate New York.

“Connecticut had a duopoly for decades,” he said. “Now it wants to sprinkle slots around the state. Is that the way to create jobs? Is that really what Connecticut wants, to have casinos on every street corner?”

He suggested the Connecticut casinos would be better off investing in their existing destination resorts, which, actually, is what they’ve been doing. Mohegan Sun has announced it’s about to break ground for a second, 400-room hotel, while Foxwoods is set to open an 80-store outlet mall in May.

“There’s plenty of market for everybody,” Michael Mathis, the MGM Springfield president, said. “Competition is something we expected all along, and why we’re trying to provide a unique opportunity.”

Mathis noted that all of MGM’s gaming revenue — that generated by tables games as well as by slot machines — would be subject to a 25 percent state tax. Connecticut’s casinos pay 25 percent of their slots “win” to the state but pay no tax on table-games revenue. He said the economic benefits from MGM would spill over into such Connecticut border towns as Enfield and Suffield.

“Enfield may as well be a ‘surrounding community,’” Mathis said, referring to the Massachusetts towns with which MGM was required to strike deals outlining the terms of impact payments.

Bill Hornbuckle, MGM Resorts’ president, said he found it curious that Foxwoods is involved in a partnership vying for a southeastern Massachusetts casino license, the third and final such license to be awarded in the Bay State. Wynn Resorts won the Greater Boston license for a $1.7 billion project in Everett, beating out Mohegan Sun’s plan for a Revere casino.

“While they’re crying in Connecticut they’re still trying to take advantage of what’s available in Massachusetts,” Hornbuckle said of Foxwoods.

In 2013, Foxwoods had pursued the Greater Boston license with a proposal for Milford, while Mohegan Sun had originally sought the western Massachusetts license that MGM won. Mohegan Sun’s Palmer proposal was rejected by local voters in a referendum, the same fate that scuttled Foxwoods’ Milford plan.

Massachusetts has also licensed a slots-only facility, Plainridge Park Casino, at a harness racing track in Plainville. The $225 million project is set to open June 24.

Crosby, the Massachusetts Gaming Commission chairman, said he was confident his panel had done everything it could to ensure the casinos it licensed would be “very high-end” facilities capable of holding their own against any competition.

“Connecticut’s got to do what it’s got to do,” he said.

b.hallenbeck@theday.com

Twitter: @bjhallenbeck

MGM Springfield

To be built on 14.5-acres site in Springfield's downtown and South End

Will feature 3,000 slot machines, 75 gambling tables, a 250-room hotel, shops, restaurants, meeting and office space, and residential apartments

A number of historic buildings will be restored or reused, including a castle-like armory.

It will also preserve Main Street's traditional storefront row and offer new downtown amenities like a public plaza, ice skating rink, cinema and bowling alley.

Source: Associated Press