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December 9, 2024

Water park, other recent upgrades reflect Foxwoods' efforts to become luxury resort destination

CONTRIBUTED PHOTO Jason Guyot has led Foxwoods Resort Casino as president and CEO since 2020.
CONTRIBUTED PHOTO One of the newest attractions at Foxwoods is Hell’s Kitchen, the restaurant behind the hit TV show hosted by celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay.
By Hanna Snyder Gambini
RELATED STORY: Private equity backing fuels Great Wolf Lodge’s aggressive expansion into CT, elsewhere
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When he took over as president and CEO in 2020, Jason Guyot said his main priority was continuing to shift Foxwoods Resort Casino from a gambling-focused venue to a luxury integrated resort destination.

He envisioned a space where guests could find a variety of activities and indulgences, from fine dining to relaxing spa sessions, live entertainment, and of course, gaming.

Nearly five years and more than $125 million in investment later, Guyot said he’s seeing that vision come to life as Foxwoods continues to offer a more diverse and appealing experience for visitors.

Much of that investment has gone into renovations that have touched nearly every aspect of the resort, which has more than 9 million square feet of space, 2,200 hotel rooms, nearly three dozen restaurants, 300,000 square feet of casino space, and a 36-hole golf course, among other amenities.

Recent additions include an expo hall, renovated bingo operation, and a DraftKings sportsbook location.

The Great Wolf Lodge water park is scheduled to open next May on Foxwoods’ sprawling 1,600-acre property in Mashantucket, adding a new family-friendly draw.

“We’re still heavy in the middle of development and pushing toward that goal of creating one of the greatest integrated resort destinations on the East Coast,” Guyot said in a recent interview with the Hartford Business Journal.

The diversification strategy is crucial to Foxwoods’ longer-term growth and well-being, particularly as increased competition from new Northeast casinos and other gambling options puts downward pressure on gaming revenues.

The upgrades

The shift from a gambling-centric to luxury-resort experience has been a strategic initiative years in the making, Guyot said.

The effort precedes his arrival. For example, Foxwoods over the years has added non-gaming activities such as a zip line, go-karting and bowling.

The goal is to extend guests’ length of stay by offering a wider array of experiences beyond gaming, such as entertainment, dining and family-friendly attractions.

There is some evidence the strategy is working. Visitor length of stay has increased 13.3% since 2019 to 1.7 days, up from 1.5 days, according to data provided by Foxwoods.

More recently, Foxwoods has focused on enhancing its culinary offerings through celebrity chef partnerships, including the opening of Wahlburgers in collaboration with actor Mark Wahlberg’s family, Gordon Ramsay’s Hell’s Kitchen, and the recently announced Momosan ramen noodle restaurant by Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto.

Casino floors have also seen significant upgrades. A ballroom was replaced with The Woodlands Casino, a brand-new $30 million gaming area, which now houses a high-limit slots area and features Truth slot bar, a 40-seat centerpiece.

Additional improvements include new bars, and renovations to Foxwoods’ high-limit gaming area, Club Newport, and the Grand Pequot gaming floor, complete with new carpeting, lighting and seating.

Also, the Golden Dragon Asian restaurant was recently renovated.

Meantime, Great Wolf Lodge’s debut next spring, Guyot said, is expected to attract a new demographic to the Mashantucket reservation: primarily families and those who frequent other Great Wolf locations but have never visited the casino.

The Mashantucket tribe had been looking to open a water park as far back as 15 to 20 years, Guyot said.

“We partnered with Great Wolf after a long and expansive search, because they’re the best in the industry, and if we were going to do something that large with a partner, we wanted the best,” Guyot said.

Foxwoods doesn’t have an operating stake in the $300 million water park project, but does earn revenue from leasing land to Great Wolf.

More importantly, the main goal of the partnership, Guyot said, is to increase overall visitor numbers to Foxwoods, “potentially creating a nostalgic connection for younger visitors who may return as adults.”

“They’ll be able to feed off of the 10-plus-million visitors that we already have coming, and we’ll be able to then feed off of some of their million-plus visitors that they have coming,” Guyot said.

Going forward, the focus will remain on renovating existing buildings on Foxwoods’ property, rather than expanding the resort-casino’s footprint, he said.

Assessing the numbers

Despite the challenges posed by the pandemic-induced shutdowns of 2020, which put a longer-term dent in gambling revenues, Foxwoods has shown resilience in its recovery, Guyout said.

It’s now operating more efficiently, employing significantly less staff (3,100 employees) than it did pre-pandemic (5,500 workers).

Much of that workforce reduction occurred in 2020.

Foxwoods’ parent company, the Mashantucket Pequot Tribe, has had its own financial challenges.

S&P Global Ratings in August assigned the tribe a negative outlook, following the Mashantucket Pequot’s decision to extend the maturity of a $275 million loan from Feb. 16, 2025 to June 30, 2028. S&P said it viewed the extension as “tantamount to a default.”

But Guyot said the loan maturity extension has provided further financial flexibility that has allowed for continued reinvestment at Foxwoods. He added that recent property renovations will leave Foxwoods with no net new debt.

S&P in August projected the tribe would report a 1% to 2% increase in overall revenue in fiscal year 2024, which ended Sept. 30, largely driven by increases in non-gaming revenue that would offset gaming revenue declines.

S&P noted that Foxwoods “faces heavy competition from the Mohegan Sun casino in Uncasville… as well as regional casinos in adjoining states (Rhode Island, Massachusetts and New York).”

During Connecticut’s 2024 fiscal year, which ended June 30, Foxwoods contributed $90 million in slot gaming revenues to the General Fund, a 2.2% increase from the previous fiscal year. (Connecticut casinos are legally required to contribute 25% of their slot wins to the state.)

By comparison, in fiscal year 2019, Foxwoods contributed $110.8 million in slot revenues to the state budget.

Foxwoods has benefited from Connecticut’s decision to legalize sports betting and online casino gaming in 2021. Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun were given access to operate in both of those markets, creating new gambling revenue streams.

Foxwoods said its total gross revenue from sports betting and iGaming in fiscal year 2024 was $693 million, which was up 50% year over year.

Guyot said gaming remains an important part of Foxwoods’ business, but the diversification strategy is crucial for long-term growth and sustainability.

“There’s always something to do, and always opportunities and new concepts that hit the market,” Guyot said. “So, we can never stop developing, never stop investigating what could be the next exciting thing that’s going to drive people in volume and revenue.”

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