The components that will be suspended are the Earth Expansion and the adjacent parking garage. The complex consists of Casino of the Earth, Casino of the Sky, Casino of the Wind, Sunrise Square, the Shops at Mohegan Sun, along with a 10,000-seat arena, a 350-seat cabaret theatre and 100,000 sf of meeting and convention space. There is also a 1,200-room Sky Hotel Tower. The Project Horizon project included costs spent on different parts of the complex with $17 million to Sunrise Square, $116 million for Casino of the Wind, $58 million for Property Infrastructure and $75 million has already been spent on Earth Expansion and $5 million on the parking garage. By halting the expansion now, the project will save $734 million.

"Given increasing uncertainty in the regional and national economy, we have decided that the most prudent course of action for the Authority at this time is to suspend work on the Earth Expansion," says Mitchell Grossinger Etess, president and CEO of the Authority, in a statement, "which will strengthen our balance sheet. We continue to believe in the long-term prospects of our business and the Northeast gaming market and expect to resume development at Mohegan Sun when market conditions improve over a sustained period."

There is some understanding that penalties may ensue, but that the decision is the right one for the time. "While we anticipate incurring some modest lease and contract termination expenses," Etess continues in a statement, "the vast majority of the approximately $80 million to be invested in the Earth Expansion and the parking garage components of Project Horizon is for valuable improvements to our existing site and facilities that will benefit our business in the future."