email this
print this
MGM Grand at Foxwoods to open in Connecticut
You'd think the largest and most consistently successful casino in the country would be in glamorous Las Vegas or seaside Atlantic City.
And that a $700 million expansion would mostly add to the 380 tables, 7,200 slots, 114-table poker room, and 3,200-seat bingo hall.
And that the spread of relatively small racinos and slots parlors wouldn't have much impact on the plans of a casino that collects $1.1 billion a year.
You'd be wrong.
On Saturday, Foxwoods Resort Casino, tucked into the wooded countryside of Mashantucket, Conn., will debut its 30-story MGM Grand at Foxwoods to strengthen its position as a world-class gambling destination, to hold onto its customers and to attract new ones.
Only about 3 percent of the expansion will involve gaming - 53 table games and 1,400 slots will be added in the 50,000-square-foot casino. Most of the space in and around the teal-glass tower will house gourmet and casual restaurants, chic clubs, high-end stores, and state-of-the-art meeting spaces, plus 825 badly needed guest rooms and suites.
It's all aimed at getting you to come and stay a while.
"They're trying to position themselves to appeal to a national and even international market, comparable to Atlantic City and Las Vegas," says Clyde Barrow, director of the Center for Policy Analysis at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. "They need to do this to offset the loss of a regional base."
An advantage that Foxwoods has over comparable resorts in Nevada and New Jersey is its hundreds of Connecticut woodland acres, owned by the Mashantucket Pequot Indian tribe. The expansion was designed to integrate the natural beauty of the outdoors with the visitor experience, says Gillian Murphy, senior vice president and general manager of the MGM Grand at Foxwoods.
Foxwoods already has 36 holes of golf. The MGM Grand will offer terrace seating at four of the new restaurants; meeting spaces with garden reception areas for up to 650 people; and a 5,500-square-foot, fan-shaped swimming pool with cabanas.
The expansion is expected to give what has been a regional casino more of a Las Vegas feel. Of course, the MGM Grand name is synonymous with Vegas, and a new 4,000-seat theater shows that a casino resort is really about a wider world of entertainment.
Gloria Estefan is scheduled to open the theater on Memorial Day weekend, and the summer lineup includes Huey Lewis and the News, Gladys Knight and Al Green, and Michael Bolton. All seats are within 126 feet of the stage, and the theater can be reconfigured for boxing and martial-arts competitions.
While the entertainment lineup appears to target a well-over-30 audience, the MGM Grand will aim for a younger demographic with a combination Asian bistro, cocktail lounge, and dance club called Shrine. Modeled after the extremely popular Tao at the Venetian in Las Vegas, the 20,000-square-foot Shrine will give diners on the upper level a view of the dance floor. The restaurant, which will feature cuisines from the Far East and Southeast Asia, will have four menus from lunch through late-night dining.
While Foxwoods has some fine dining, many restaurants are chains, including Hard Rock Cafe, Panera Bread, and California Pizza Kitchen. The MGM Grand will add some gourmet eateries, including Alta Strada, an Italian restaurant under the direction of chef Michael Schlow, a New Yorker who has become a culinary star in Boston. Alta Strada will have one of the outdoor dining areas, a Mediterranean grill.
Another gourmet room will be Craftsteak, an import from the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. The name says it all - pricey beef, including Wagyu.
Casual dining options will include the first Junior's Most Fabulous Cheesecake & Desserts outside New York City, plus an upscale food court and a gelato cafe.
For relaxation, G Spa, operated by Boston-based Bridget Monahan, will offer both "quickie" and "splurge" pampering services.
With all the dining, partying and gambling available, you might want to stay a night or two, so the expansion will add 825 guest rooms and suites - a 58 percent increase.
Foxwoods, catering almost exclusively to a gambling clientele, traditionally gave most of its 1,416 rooms, especially on weekends, to high rollers.
"That's the thing with Foxwoods; you had to call three, four months in advance unless you were a big player and getting comped," says Barrow, whose center includes the New England Gaming Research Project.
In 1986, Foxwoods began modestly as a bingo hall. Its breakthrough came six years later, when the Mashantucket Pequot were allowed to add slot machines in exchange for a promise of at least $100 million a year in revenue for the state. Within an easy drive of New York, Boston and Providence, the upstart casino's success was both immediate and enormous.
Today, it draws 40,000 a people a day.
Eight miles away, another Indian casino, Mohegan Sun, owned by the Mohegan tribe of Connecticut, opened in 1996. It also rakes in more than $1 billion a year and recently eclipsed Foxwoods in gaming revenues.
Where Connecticut once had a virtual monopoly on gambling in the far Northeast, Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun now have rivals. Slots parlors and casinos have opened in New York, Rhode Island and Maine. Pennsylvania, too.
And if Rhode Island gambling were to expand or Massachusetts were to adopt it, halls in those states would likely siphon off more "convenience gamblers," the type of customers who are just looking for the nearest slot machine, Barrow says.
In fact, Foxwoods has reported recent decreases in slot wins, which it blames on broader economic conditions, including higher gasoline prices, local road construction and its expansion.
The MGM Grand's Murphy says that Foxwoods needs to extend its appeal to attract new visitors and have them stay longer. The average length of stay at the resort is about 1.2 days, and the goal is to stretch that to two days, she says.
To that end, the expansion is aimed at attracting midweek conventions and conferences and more casual weekend travelers.
And to broaden its appeal, the casino is changing the name of its frequent-player's program from Wampum Rewards to the Dream Card. You can earn points at the Foxwoods and MGM Grand casinos and redeem them at those resorts. Or, you can convert the points to gift cards for the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
The Foxwoods folks are wagering $700 million that you'll find a slice of Vegas in the Connecticut countryside.
On the Horizon in Conn.
Foxwoods Resort Casino isn't alone in raising the stakes in the state's gaming industry.
Mohegan Sun's Casino of the Wind is scheduled to open in late August, as the first part of its Project Horizon. The 45,000-
square-foot gaming space, next to the 300,000-square-foot Casino of the Wind, will add about 826 slot machines, 28 table games, and a 42-table poker room.
The expansion will also include a Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville restaurant and store and a Chief's Deli quick-service restaurant.
The second part of Project Horizon, a 39-story House of Blues hotel, is scheduled to break ground this month and open in 2010. The House of Blues will include 658 guest rooms, a spa, restaurant, shops, and a 1,500-seat music hall.
More information
Foxwoods Resort Casino
Route 2
Mashantucket, Conn.
1-800-369-9663
MGM Grand at Foxwoods
240 MGM Grand Dr.
Mashantucket, Conn.
1-866-646-0050
Mohegan Sun
1 Mohegan Sun Blvd.
Uncasville, Conn.
1-888-226-7711
How Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun Stack Up
Casino
Foxwoods
Foxwoods
with MGM Grand
Mohegan Sun
Caesars Palace
Las Vegas
MGM Grand
Las Vegas
Trump Taj Mahal
Atlantic City
Borgata
Atlantic City
Bellagio
Las Vegas
Square Feet
340,000
390,000
300,000
176,573
170,000
161,245
161,000
129,000
Tables
380
433
320
128
156
132
200
142
Slots
7,200
8,600
6,200
1,446
2,523
3,787
4,100
2,420
Buzz this story.
