CONNECTICUT SPORTS BETTING SEES ITS FIRST BETS AT RETAIL SPORTSBOOKS

This past Thursday saw the launch of Connecticut sports betting. Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont made the ceremonial first wagers in the state. These first wagers were placed on Thursday morning both at the Mohegan Sun Casino and the Foxwoods Resort Casino. The Mohegan Sun sportsbook is run by FanDuel and the Foxwoods Resort Casino sportsbook is run by DraftKings.

Currently, only FanDuel and DraftKings have been able to launch their retail sportsbooks, which has been through their partnerships with Connecticut state tribes. So, the only way that Connecticut sports betting fans can place their legal wagers at this time is physically at Foxwoods Resort Casino or at Mohegan Sun Casino. But, there will be a mobile sports betting launch across the state for three online sportsbooks on October 7th — at least that’s the plan!

The third online sportsbook that will participate in the mobile launch will be the PlaySugarHouse brand launched through a partnership between the Connecticut Lottery and Rush Street Interactive. An early October soft launch is planned by the Connecticut Lottery for its sportsbooks. The Connecticut Lottery will be operating fifteen retail sportsbooks statewide. Ten of these retail sportsbooks will be operating at existing Sportech locations.

FanDuel and DraftKings announced that their retail sportsbooks would launch on September 30th around two weeks after Governor Ned Lamont’s office announced Connecticut mobile sports betting would be launching on October 7th.

Amended compacts between the state of Connecticut and the Mohegan Tribe and the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation were published in the Federal Register on September 15th and September 27th respectively. This publishing paved the way for the Connecticut sports betting launch.

As of right now, these two retail sportsbooks are in operation in temporary locations within their respective casinos.

Back in March 2021, Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont was able to reach agreements for these amended tribal compacts. The following May, the governor signed HB 6451, which legalized iGaming, and that includes Connecticut sports betting. Then this past summer, in August, emergency Connecticut sports betting regulations were approved.

Governor Lamont expressed his appreciation for the speed with which Connecticut sports betting went from legislation to launch. This process took only around four months.

In total, five states were able to launch legal sports betting last month in September. These are: Connecticut, Arizona, South Dakota, Wyoming, and Washington.

Arizona regulators had been hoping to be able to pull off a similar timeline, and went live on opening day of the 2021 NFL season. The state also has a sports betting market with tribal casinos.

As of this writing, there are twenty seven states in the United States that have legal sports betting. Maryland and Louisiana both are hopefuls to launch this fall season.

Connecticut looks to pull in interested New York and Massachusetts sports betting fans. Both states are still awaiting their own legal sports betting launches. Massachusetts sports betting has a House sports betting bill that is being sat on in the state Senate. In December, New York sports betting will see regulators picking winning bids for online sportsbooks in the state.

Written by our US sports betting industry expert, Allie Nelson. You can learn more about Allie's expertise here.