Osten, Steele to debate casino bill
Stonington — Representatives of opposite sides of the state's ongoing casino debate will square off at 7 p.m. Thursday, May 14, at the Stonington Community Center.
Sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Southeastern Connecticut, the event will feature state Sen. Cathy Osten, D-Sprague, a supporter of Senate Bill 1090, which would authorize the Mashantucket Pequot and Mohegan tribes to jointly operate up to three satellite casinos in the state, and former Republican Congressman Bob Steele of Essex, who represented Connecticut's 2nd District from 1970 to 1975. He was an unsuccessful candidate for governor in 1974.
Osten last week joined nine other members of the General Assembly's eastern Connecticut delegation in signing a letter urging their colleagues to vote for the bill. The letter says the legislation would give the tribes, which own Foxwoods Resort Casino and Mohegan Sun, "the ability to keep jobs and businesses here in our state."
Casinos licensed in Massachusetts and New York, the first of which is scheduled to open in Springfield, Mass., by the end of 2017, would be expected to divert a significant share of the Connecticut casinos' business.
Steele, author of "The Curse: Big-Time Gambling's Seduction of a Small New England Town," a fictionalized account of events that took place in Ledyard during the 1990s, has spoken out against expanded gambling in recent years. He has made scores of appearances throughout New England and testified against 1090 at a public hearing in March.
The public is invited to the debate. Time will be set aside for questioning the participants.
Twitter: @bjhallenbeck
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