Called the Casino of the Wind, the 64,000 square-foot facility, features a 42-table poker room, more than 650 slot machines and 28 table games. The new facility is the first phase of Mohegan Sun's $925 million expansion, which will include a 920-room hotel and more stores and restaurants when completed in 18 months.

"It shows we're continuing to evolve," said Mitchell Etess, president and chief executive officer at Mohegan Sun. "We need to do things to make people want to come here and there's no doubt adding new exciting attractions accomplishes that goal. I think people are really going to be amazed how beautiful and visually stimulating the casino is."

Owned by the Mohegan Tribe , is in Uncasville in eastern, Conn., approximately 50 miles southeast of Hartford and about nine miles west of the Foxwoods Resort Casino.
The opening comes three months after Foxwoods, run by the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation, opened its $700 million MGM Grand. That property includes a new casino, hotel, a 4,000-seat performing arts theater, restaurants run by celebrity chefs, luxury stores, the largest ballroom in the Northeast and new convention space.

Both Mohegan Sun and Foxwoods believe the new gambling centers will boost business.

Slots revenues were approximately $14 million. The casinos had a few months of declines in slot revenue until May, when they went up two-tenths of a percent at Mohegan Sun and 7.7 percent at Foxwoods. 

Clyde Barrow, who directs the New England Gaming Research Project, said that while the timing of the new space at Mohegan Sun may not be ideal, the project makes sense in the long run. He said the new casino will be in place to capture growth once the economy kicks into higher gear this fall.

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Mohegan Sun is reintroducing poker, which it discontinued a while ago, as the game has grown in popularity in recent years. Its first major poker tournament is planned for October.

The new slot machines add about 10 percent to the 6,000 slots the casino has now. That will free up space for large crowds to gamble, such as when concerts end, Etess said.

The new hotel will meet strong demand, Barrow said, noting that Mohegan's existing hotel has a 93 percent occupancy rate compared with 63 percent for Boston area hotels.


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