Since then, MGM has tried to bid on casino projects throughout Connecticut, but with no luck. But after the tribes and state filed a federal lawsuit seeking a court order directing the agency to sign off on the amendments, the department reversed course and approved the changes in June 2018. The agency initially returned the amendments, asking for more information about them. As required under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, the tribes and the state submitted these amendments for approval from the Department of the Interior in August 2017. To do this, the state and the tribes had to make changes to the agreements that allowed the tribes to operate Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun on their reservations. The tribes chose the town of East Windsor for the casino, putting a major competitor just 12 miles from the new MGM development. Seeing the competition building just across the border, Connecticut enacted a law giving the tribes authority to open up a new casino that would not be built on a reservation. The MGM casino sits just across the state line from Connecticut, and the company says it has spent more than $1 million on advertisements in the Nutmeg State since the casino opened. MGM began work on a casino in Springfield, Mass., in 2015, with the 125,000-square-foot gaming floor opening in 2018. Under the deal with Connecticut, the tribes have to pay the royalty only so long as they remain the only entities allowed to run casinos in the state. government, and Connecticut gets a 25% royalty on revenue from slot machines under a separate deal with the state. The tribes operate Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun, respectively, under an agreement with the U.S. The Mashantucket Pequot and Mohegan tribes each run large casinos on their reservations in southeastern Connecticut, the only two casinos in the state. 'These decisions also stand in the way of an open, competitive process that MGM believes would result in a better deal for the people of Connecticut.' 'Interior's approval decisions establish an unlawful state-conferred monopoly over commercial gaming rights in Connecticut,' MGM Resorts International said in a statement about its lawsuit filed in D.C. Taking aim at the Interior Department, MGM says the government illegally approved changes to an agreement with the Mashantucket Pequot and Mohegan tribes that allowed the tribes to open a casino in East Windsor, Conn., just 12 miles from a new MGM property. WASHINGTON (CN) - Casino giant MGM filed a federal lawsuit Wednesday claiming that two Native American tribes got an effective monopoly on gambling in Connecticut through a new deal with the government.

When was the 12 tribes casino opened