Some viewed potential casino jobs as the region’s immediate economic savior. Locally, the Mohegans gained political support in the 1990s as a result of massive layoffs in the then defense-based economy of southeastern Connecticut. The legalization of gaming on federally-recognized tribal lands in 1988 led to the proliferation of casinos nationwide. Both casinos’ explosive growth are a result of their location halfway between the major population centers of the Northeast megalopolis: Boston and New York.
Situated on a waterfront site in the rolling hills of southeastern Connecticut and within two hours drive of twenty million gambling-age adults, the Mohegan Tribal Nation’s Mohegan Sun is one of the largest casinos in the world, and second only in the region to the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation’s Foxwoods in nearby Ledyard, Connecticut.
