Months After Angering Senior Groups, Foxwoods CEO to Call Bingo
The outcry is in response to remarks CEO reportedly made about seniors with walkers and oxygen tanks.
Tuesday, Oct 2, 2012 | Updated 12:52 PM EDT
Scott Butera, CEO of Foxwoods, was under fire with senior groupswhen he was quotes as saying his casino did not need busloads of senior citizens who show up with walkers and oxygen tanks.” Now he is meeting with senior groups.
Just months ago, some local senior citizens groups said they were boycotting Foxwoods after reports of disparaging comments about seniors attributed to the CEO.
Now, it appears that Scott Butera, the CEO, is trying to repair the image local seniors have of his casino.
On Friday, Butera will be the guest Bingo caller at the Naugatuck Senior Center and he will also discuss the important role that older adults play at the area casinos, according to a news release from the Naugatuck Senior Center.
Some local senior groups took offense after reading a Boston Globe opinion piece that ran on May 24, in which Butera was quoted as saying what he wants from customers is “their wallet.”
“The chief executive of Foxwoods Resort Casino is also candid about customers he can do without — for example, those stereotypical busloads of senior citizens who show up with walkers and oxygen tanks,” the opinion piece stated.
After seeing the article, Sarah Muoio, director of the Derby Senior Center, decided that Foxwoods would not get her business until Butera is out of the job and she contacted other senior centers in the area, which also refused to work with the popular resort and casino.
"At first, I was just really offended that someone could make a statement, stereotype senior citizens in such a negative way," Muoio said. "I decided that our senior center was going to boycott Foxwoods."
Butera told the Valley Independent Sentinel that the writer took his words out of context.
The Globe denied that.
Butera will be at the senior center, located at 300 Meadow street in Naugatuck, at noon on Friday.
