Mashantucket, CT (February 24, 2025) — As Foxwoods Resort Casino expands its facilities, its success continues to prove that smokefree casinos are here to stay. The casino’s decision to eliminate indoor smoking in 2021 has been widely embraced by the community, and Foxwoods executives are maintaining the property’s smokefree policies as they add to the casino this spring. The resort is set to build an indoor water park, a Martha Stewart restaurant, and a brand new poker room — all of which will be smokefree.
KEY POINT: “Foxwoods has managed to fend off the newcomers and retain many of its customers by diversifying the property throughout the past three decades. As for gaming, a most critical decision the tribe made recently was to go fully smoke-free. Hayes says forcing smokers outside to light up has been well received by the majority of guests, as smoking rates continue to decline. ‘The overwhelming number of guests who come to the property — 75% to 80% — do not smoke,’ Hayes said.”
Foxwoods Resort Casino in Mashantucket, CT, continues to evolve, as ongoing competition encroaches on its turf.
Foxwoods, owned and operated by the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation, is celebrating its 33rd year in 2025. The complex, of course, is vastly different than it was when it opened in 1992.
Resort officials tell Casino.org that significant investments and developments have allowed the destination to remain a standout among the tribal and commercial gaming industries.
Today, the resort has over 1,900 luxury hotel rooms, a full-service spa, a 4K-seat concert venue, the top-rated public golf course in Connecticut, 175K square feet of meeting space, retail shopping at the Tanger Outlets, an array of family-friendly amenities and attractions highlighted by a Great Wolf Lodge set to open this year, and five distinct casinos that jointly offer more than 2,900 slot machines, 250 live dealer table games, bingo, keno, and sports betting.
“We have a lot of amenities that a lot of other properties don’t,” Bryan Hayes, senior vice president of gaming operations, told Casino.org. Hayes estimated that to replicate Foxwoods from the ground up, such an undertaking would cost “$3 billion to $5 billion.”
We are a very large facility. We have 30-plus restaurants, three hotel towers (Grand Pequot, Great Cedar Hotel, The Fox Tower), five gaming floors with high-limit areas, zip lines, go-karts, and a Great Wolf Lodge coming soon with roughly 575 rooms and a 100K-square-foot water park. You don’t have these kinds of amenities at smaller properties being built in the [Northeast] region,” Hayes, a tribal member himself, explained.
Foxwoods’ people, Hayes added, have created exceptional guest loyalty. There are more than 450 employees who have been with the casino for at least 30 years.
Foxwoods a Trendsetter
It’s been many years since Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun held a duopoly on casino gaming in New England. Commercial casinos today operate in neighboring Massachusetts — Foxwoods’ primary feeder market outside of Connecticut — as well as in Rhode Island and New York.
Foxwoods has managed to fend off the newcomers and retain many of its customers by diversifying the property throughout the past three decades.
As for gaming, a most critical decision the tribe made recently was to go fully smoke-free. Hayes says forcing smokers outside to light up has been well received by the majority of guests, as smoking rates continue to decline.
“The overwhelming number of guests who come to the property — 75% to 80% — do not smoke,” Hayes said.
Determining whether the ban on indoor casino smoking helped or hurt gaming revenue, however, Hayes says is difficult to tell because Foxwoods went smoke-free amid the COVID-19. Pent-up demand after the pandemic resulted in strong casino business across the country and at Foxwoods.
“Post COVID, we hit a recovery period, so we really couldn’t look back at an apples-to-apples comparison,” Hayes stated. MGM Springfield in Massachusetts, which opened only shortly before the coronavirus arrived in the U.S., further added complexity to determining how Foxwoods’ smoking ban impacted gaming.
Foxwoods Looking Ahead
Along with Great Wolf Lodge opening this spring, Foxwoods’ anniversary celebration will be highlighted by the debut of The Bedford by Martha Stewart, a restaurant designed based on the celebrity’s country farmhouse in New York’s Bedford. The Bedford invites diners to experience what it’s like being a Martha Stewart houseguest with some of her favorite dishes.
Foxwoods is also renovating the Great Cedar Hotel guestrooms and opening a new poker room.
“As we celebrate 33 years of Foxwoods, it’s humbling to reflect on how far we’ve come — from a vision rooted in the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation’s determination to a destination that now redefines what a resort casino can be,” said Jason Guyot, president & CEO of Foxwoods Resort Casino. “This year’s milestones are more than upgrades; they’re a testament to our drive to create moments that surprise and delight our guests, honor our community, and push boundaries in hospitality. We can’t wait to share this next chapter with everyone who comes to visit.”