Hoping to defend its turf, Mohegan Sun pursued commercial casino licenses in Massachusetts, New York and Philadelphia and came up short each time. Foxwoods, too, flirted with expansion, floating proposals for Massachusetts and New York before abandoning them.

Spurned by voters in Palmer, Mass., in 2013, Mohegan Sun sought the Greater Boston license throughout much of 2014, promoting a $1.1 billion project at Suffolk Downs in Revere. Wynn Resorts' competing plan for Everett won the license.

In November, Mohegan Sun lost out on a license for a second Philadelphia casino and in December failed to win a license for a Catskills project in New York.

Late in the year, the prospect of a Springfield, Mass., casino fueled talk of a third tribal casino in northern Connecticut, one the owners of Mohegan Sun and Foxwoods would have to endorse.

- Brian Hallenbeck