When the Cold War ended in the 1980s and many thousands in heavily defense-dependent eastern Connecticut lost their jobs, the opening of Foxwoods and, later, Mohegan Sun literally saved this region from a full-blown economic depression. Many of our friends and neighbors who were laid off found work at the casinos or related businesses.

Local municipalities, many of which would have been ghost towns without the casino-driven surge, instead found themselves with new businesses, new residents, new opportunities and new hope. In the Mashantucket Pequot and Mohegan tribes, we found partners who would over the years spend, invest and contribute billions of dollars throughout the region, the entire state and beyond to help keep us afloat.

As a lifelong resident of eastern Connecticut, I shudder to think what would have happened to our community without the investment of the Mashantucket Pequots and Mohegans. Where would the displaced workers, devastated businesses and inundated charities be today had the casinos not opened?

Where would our local chambers of commerce, the United Way and so many other businesses and charities – including my own at Lawrence + Memorial Hospital – be without the many millions in business volume and philanthropic support the tribes, the casinos and their employees have provided over the years?

Ironically, today, it is the casinos and the many local businesses and people who rely on them that are faced with a critical challenge with competition springing up in adjacent states.

Feeling the crunch, Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun have already been forced to downsize, but are proposing up to three joint satellite ventures in Connecticut that could minimize the daunting prospect of lost revenue – and by extension lost wages, revenue, philanthropy and jobs here.

Now, we have an opportunity – in fact, an obligation – to repay the trust and confidence that the tribes placed in us a generation ago. The Connecticut General Assembly will likely have a chance to vote later this session on whether to allow the tribes’ enterprises to expand within our state.

Our legislators and governor should remember the positive economic and philanthropic impact the tribes and their enterprises had for Connecticut and support their efforts to preserve their market.

William A. Stanley is vice president for Development and Government/Community Relations at Lawrence + Memorial Hospital, two-time past board chairman of the Chamber of Commerce of Eastern Connecticut and past campaign chairman for the United Way of Southeastern Connecticut.