Foxwoods Resort Casino

Foxwoods Resort Casino is an integrated resort owned and operated by the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation on their reservation located in Ledyard, Connecticut. Including six casinos, the resort covers an area of 9,000,000 sq ft (840,000 m²). The casinos have more than 250 gaming tables for blackjack, craps, roulette, and poker, and have more than 5,500 slot machines.^[1][2] The casinos also have several restaurants, among them a Hard Rock Cafe. It has been developed since changes in state and federal laws in the late 20th century enabled Native American gaming on the sovereign reservations of federally recognized tribes.

Foxwoods has two hotel towers, with a total of 2,228 hotel rooms; and an arcade for children and teens. The original tower, Great Cedar was opened in 1992, The second tower called the Grand Pequot Tower, opened in 1997, while the third opened in 2008 as the MGM Grand. It was re-branded the Fox Tower in 2013.^[3] In 2015, a retail complex, known as Tanger Outlet Mall, opened between the two hotel towers with 85 stores featuring luxury goods.^[4]

The Mashantucket Pequot Tribe gained federal recognition and legal control of their reservation by an act of Congress in 1983, which overrode a veto by President Ronald Reagan.^[5] The tribe moved forward with development. They founded Foxwoods in 1986 as a high-stakes bingo hall on their reservation.

La tribu se asoció con Lim Goh Tong , un malasio de origen chino que fundó el único casino legal en Malasia, para obtener financiación para expandir Foxwoods y convertirlo en un casino de juegos completo. ^{[ 6 ] [ 7 ]}

En 1992, la tribu agregó juegos de mesa, seguidos de máquinas tragamonedas adicionales en 1993. G. Michael Brown se convirtió en presidente del casino en 1993. En un acuerdo negociado con el estado de Connecticut, para obtener su aprobación del casino, la tribu acordó pagar el 25 por ciento de los ingresos de las tragamonedas al estado, ^{[ 8 ]} una suma que ascendía a casi $200 millones por año a partir de 2007. ^{[ 9 ]} En el año fiscal que terminó en junio de 2008, las 6,300 tragamonedas de Foxwoods manejaron más de $9.1 mil millones. En enero de 2012, el "retención" fue de $45 millones. ^{[ 10 ]} Se agregaron una sala de póker y un área de juego de límites altos con 30 mesas en 1995.

Debido a que Foxwoods se encuentra en territorio soberano de la tribu Mashantucket Pequot, no está obligado a cumplir con las leyes estatales relativas al tabaquismo. Construido en 1996, el casino no es un establecimiento libre de humo. A raíz de las quejas recibidas a principios del siglo XXI por parte de clientes y empleados, se han designado muchas áreas comunes, como pasillos, corredores, vestíbulos de hotel, tiendas y la mayoría de los restaurantes, como zonas para no fumadores. Además, se han designado ciertas áreas para fumadores. La sala de póker es para no fumadores, y las áreas separadas de juegos de mesa y máquinas tragamonedas también lo son.

En 1997, se inauguró la lujosa Grand Pequot Tower, anexa al complejo.

Foxwoods fue considerado en su momento el casino más grande del mundo, ^{[ 11 ]} aunque posteriormente fue superado por el Venetian Macau . ^{[ 12 ]}

Durante años después de su apertura en 1992, Foxwoods tuvo el monopolio del juego de casino en la región. ^{[ 13 ]} Obtuvo miles de millones de dólares en ganancias. Poco antes de la recesión del mercado de 2008, Foxwoods se endeudó fuertemente para financiar una expansión masiva que incluía nuevos hoteles e instalaciones para conferencias. ^{[ 14 ]} A partir de 2009, Foxwoods incumplió deudas por un total de más de dos mil millones de dólares. ^{[ 15 ]} Como resultado, en 2014 Standard & Poor's rebajó la calificación crediticia de Foxwoods. ^{[ 16 ]} Los Mashantucket Pequot, propietarios de Foxwoods, han solicitado y recibido millones de dólares en subvenciones federales. ^{[ 17 ]}

Over time, the casino management achieved full build-out of the resort by hiring several design and construction entities. The majority of the work from 1992 to 2001 was completed by Construction Managers CR Klewin aka Klewin Building Co. and the Architect of Record was JCJ Architecture (formerly Jeter, Cook & Jepson) of Hartford, Connecticut. Planning and concept designs were by New England Design Inc. and Nick606 Inc. Later phases were completed by Shawmut Design & Construction, Perini Building Co., AZ Corporation, and others, with design work by Steelman Partners, HKS, Inc., and others. The resort managers revamped the whole resort and casino, re-branding it as "The Fox".^[18]

The resort's appearance inspires frequent comparisons or references to it as the "Emerald City", after the city seen in the film The Wizard of Oz.^[19][20][21]

Games available at Foxwoods include:

• Traditional "big table" Baccarat (Punto Banco style) and "Mini-Baccarat", where a dealer handles the cards. In both variants the casino banks the game.
• Bingo, with a bingo hall able to accommodate up to 5000 players.
• Blackjack with 6- or 8-deck shoes. A variant called Spanish 21 is also played. The casino offers a rare "Dollar blackjack" table (minimum bet is $1).
• Craps.
• Keno drawings.
• A money wheel in the Fox Tower
• Pai gow is offered in the Asian gaming section of the Rainmaker Casino.
• Sic Bo, an Asian game with three dice in a shaker, is also played in the Asian gaming section.^[22]
• Las variantes de mesa de póker (que se juegan contra la casa) incluyen Caribbean Stud Poker , Casino War , Crazy 4 Poker , High Five Poker , Let It Ride , Pai Gow Poker , Texas Hold 'Em Bonus y Three Card Poker .
• Ruleta : Casi todas las ruletas son del tipo americano (con dos casillas verdes, el 0 y el 00), aunque existen algunas ruletas de estilo europeo con un solo cero.
• Máquinas tragamonedas : Tiene 3.500 máquinas tragamonedas. ^{[ 23 ]}
• Sala Stargazer: La sala VIP. Esta sección requiere un mínimo de 20.000.000 de monedas en tu cuenta. ^{[ 24 ]}
• Un local de apuestas hípicas con cafetería. Se pueden realizar apuestas en jai alai . También se pueden hacer apuestas en más de 60 hipódromos (en conjunto) para carreras de galgos y caballos . Las carreras se proyectan en pantallas digitales de 15 metros de altura.

La Sala de Póker (anteriormente conocida como la Sala de Póker Mundial del WPT- World Poker Tour hasta 2012) ^{[ A ]} está ubicada un piso debajo del Casino Rainmaker. Aquí se realizan juegos de póker de diferentes apuestas, incluyendo Texas hold 'em con límite y sin límite, Omaha hold 'em con límite y límite de bote (incluyendo hi/lo) y seven-card stud (solo high y hi/lo).

La sala de póker fue reubicada y ampliada en marzo de 2006, aumentando el número de mesas de 76 a 114, convirtiéndose así en la sala de póker más grande fuera de California . Es la tercera sala de póker más grande del mundo, después del Commerce Casino y el Bicycle Casino . ^{[ 26 ] [ 27 ]}

Desde 2014, se han celebrado tres importantes eventos de artes marciales mixtas en Foxwoods: UFC Fight Night: Jacaré vs. Mousasi , World Series of Fighting 20: Branch vs. McElligott y, más recientemente, World Series of Fighting 24: Fitch vs. Okami .

Construction started in November 2005 on a $700 million expansion at Foxwoods. On April 25, 2006, Foxwoods announced that they would lease the MGM Grand brand name for the new building, and that MGM Mirage would be a partner in the expansion project. The expansion, entitled MGM Grand at Foxwoods, opened on May 17, 2008. It is a separate building from the main Foxwoods resort. A moving walkway and Tanger Outlets Foxwoods (built in 2015), now connect the two complexes. Amenities at the MGM Grand at Foxwoods included:^[28]

• 53 table games
• 1,400 slot machines
• 825 hotel rooms/suites
• 4,000 seat performing arts theater
• Four restaurants and four retail outlets

In late 2013, MGM Mirage split from Foxwoods. The tribe renamed the building The Fox Tower, part of a re-branding effort as they face new competition from other casinos in the region.^[4]

In 2015, Tanger Outlets Foxwoods opened within the complex, located between the two hotel towers. Constructed for $120 million, the 85-store mall features luxury brands.^[4]

• California Pizza Kitchen
• Gordon Ramsay's Hell's Kitchen
• David Burke Prime Steakhouse
• Guy Fieri's Foxwoods Kitchen + Bar
• Hard Rock Cafe
• High Rollers Luxury Lanes & Sports Lounge
• Cedars Steakhouse & Oyster Bar
• Johnny Rockets
• Sugar Factory American Brasserie
• Wingstop
• Wahlburgers
• Regina Pizzeria
• Alta Strada
• Momosan
• The Bedford by Martha Stewart

Beginning with an employee-led website to gain support and share ideas of how to react to changes employees had been going through, a small base of employees approached several union organizations to explore unionizing of dealers at Foxwoods Resort Casino. After the dealer group decided on the United Auto Workers in June 2007, the UAW helped start collecting signatures from dealers in support of a union. The UAW announced in September 2007 that it had collected the requisite number of signatures needed to hold an election to determine whether table games and poker dealers desired union representation or not.

The Tribe challenged the jurisdiction of the National Labor Relations Board for their on-reservation Native American enterprises. Following hearings and review of the petitions, the NLRB ruled in favor of the union and ordered a union election to be conducted. On November 24, 2007, employees voted to unionize: 60 percent were in favor and 40 percent were against.^[31] The Foxwoods dealers cast 1,289 ballots for the union, 852 against representation, with challenges to 36 additional ballots. Approximately 2,700 dealers and dual-rate dealers were eligible to vote in the election.

After the workers won the right to unionize, Foxwoods Casino appealed the election results, reasserting its jurisdictional challenge. In addition, it said that the NLRB had made mistakes in conducting the vote. It had printed the ballot only in English and provided notices explaining the election in only one form of the Chinese language, thereby disenfranchising workers who spoke other languages. Furthermore, it said that interactions between union officials and some voters were unlawful.^[32] An NLRB Administrative Law Judge ruled that the union and the board provided ample explanation of the election in a variety of languages. Foxwoods appealed the decision.

The Foxwoods dealers' union asked the state of Connecticut to improve the conditions of their workplace. Workers and union organizers pushed for legislation to ban smoking on the casino floors of Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun. The Mashantucket tribe opposed a complete ban on smoking; however, in May 2009 Connecticut Governor M. Jodi Rell signed an agreement with Foxwoods by which they would limit smoking areas in the casino.^[33]

On January 26, 2010, dealers at Foxwoods reached a labor contract with the Mashantucket Pequot Tribe. They are the largest group of union-represented dealers at any U.S. casino.^[34] On August 7, 2013, the union announced a tentative new contract that would give dealers retroactive and future raises, set stricter limits on second-hand smoke, and give dealers the right to decide how tips are distributed.^[35]

In April 2018, an additional 300 cleaning and maintenance workers voted to join the UAW.^[36]

• Gambling in Connecticut
• List of casinos in the United States
• Mashantucket Pequot Museum and Research Center
• Mohegan Sun—Connecticut's other casino
• Native American gaming
• List of integrated resorts

• The Foxwoods Resort Casino Web site