A casino won't be coming to Bradley International Airport after town officials in Windsor Locks didn't have enough support to take the plan to a vote during a special Board of Selectmen’s meeting.
The Connecticut Airport Authority wanted to put a casino in at the airport and presented its plan during Tuesday's meeting.
While it didn't technically get shot down, it never came to a vote. Windsor Locks First Selectman Steve Wawruck (D), who was in favor of the idea, motioned to bring the plan to a vote, but the other two selectmen were against the proposal so no one seconded it, killing the vote and the option of a request for proposal.
"The townspeople should have had a say," Windsor Locks Selectman Michael Russo (R) said.
However Wawruck countered that argument saying that not voting was what didn't give residents a voice.
"To say that the voter didn't have a say - they just negated the voter from having the say by not moving the process forward," Wawruck said.
The airport authority wanted to build the casino on the former site of Terminal B that's in the process of being brought down
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Sources previously told NBC Connecticut that the Bradley Airport off-track betting location in Windsor Locks, Enfield Square Mall and the former Showcase Cinemas property in East Windsor are vying for the casino.
According to Mohegan Sun President Bobby Soper, officials at Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun casinos have been receiving proposals from towns willing to host a potentially $300 million facility that would house slots, table games, restaurants and bars. Both East Windsor and East Harford have expressed interest in a casino run by Connecticut's two Native American tribes.
There are, however, legal hurdles in the way of a potential third casino opening.
Existing casinos in the state are located on sovereign tribal land and Attorney General George Jepsen told the legislature in April that he has concerns about the effect a casino located off of tribal land could have on the existing compact between the state and the tribes.
The compact allows gambling only on tribal land. In return, the tribes give the state 25 percent of all slot revenues. The states have received more than $6.6 billion since Foxwoods opened its doors in 1993.
