A 100,000-square-foot satellite casino proposed for a former cinema property in East Windsor is intended to protect Foxwoods’ and Mohegan Sun’s market share and their revenue-sharing payments to the state of Connecticut. Courtesy image

The two tribes who control Connecticut’s two casinos have rejected a proposal from Gov. Ned Lamont to move a planned third casino to downtown Hartford in exchange for the rights to online and sports betting in the state.

The Connecticut Mirror reported the Mashatucket Pequot and Mohegan tribes are not willing to walk away from a planned casino in East Windsor, just across the state line from Massachusetts’ new, successful MGM Springfield casino.

The $300 million casino, dubbed “Tribal Winds,” was conceived as a way to compete with MGM Resorts International’s new, successful Springfield facility. Since it opened last year, the casino has eaten into the marketshare held by the tribes’ Mohegan Sun and Foxwoods casinos.

MGM has threatened suit to stop the East Windsor casino. The aging, state-owned XL Center needs significant upgrades, but lawmakers have been reluctant to approve funding for it. Lamont had proposed the facility be sold to the tribes as the location for a new casino.