I drove out to Foxwoods with one question in mind: Why would this granddaddy of all giant Native American casinos spend tens of millions of dollars on new gaming and high-end restaurant space at a time when its betting revenues, as measured by slot machine business, have eroded more or less steadily since the peak in 2006?

This $30 million makeover, replacing an underused ballroom, moves a lot of action to the heart of Foxwoods Resort Casino near the entrance to the central Grand Pequot Hotel. On this night the place bustled - even as farther reaches of the 9-million-square-foot fantasyland held far fewer people.Īll in all, not bad for the last Tuesday in August, a busy week for many folks with kids heading back to school and Labor Day plans afoot. Just beyond Hell's Kitchen, the more casual Wahlburgers restaurant made its debut Tuesday. Past the bar, Gordon Ramsay's Hell's Kitchen restaurant, just opened a few weeks ago with its tall, fire-lit HK sign that doubles as a backdrop for photos.

To their right, a sweeping, S-shaped bar dubbed Truth Searcher, part of the new casino, its shelves 12 feet high stacked with bottles no one could reach, with 34 of its 35 gambling stations occupied at that moment.

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