"During this transition, the leadership team will continue to passionately pursue our performance objectives and make every effort to execute on our key initiatives effectively"

John O'Brien is resigning as the president of Foxwoods after less than two years in the top position at the resort casino.

His departure comes as Foxwoods prepares to open a new, $ 700 million casino -- the MGM Grand at Foxwoods -- while at the same time tries to improve sagging slot machine revenues and thwart efforts by 2,600 table dealers to unionize.

The owner of Foxwoods, the Mashantucket Pequot Tribe, said in a statement that O'Brien was resigning effective January 18 to pursue other interests. Read more