Connecticut lawmakers are studying the idea of adding slot machines to the state’s three off-track betting facilities.
State Senator Andres Ayala, co-chairman of the task force, says the panel of lawmakers will recommend that the General Assembly pass legislation to authorize slots and video gaming machines at the greyhound park and at off-track betting facilities in Bridgeport, New Haven and Windsor Locks.
In an interview with the Associated Press, Ayala cited declining revenues at the state’s two Indian casinos, Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun, as well as new competition for gambling dollars in New York, Massachusetts and Rhode Island, as prompting the need for additional gaming revenue. “We need to develop some stability,” Ayala said. “I’m hopeful a bill will come from that. It’s time to go forward and propose legislation that would do what we are asking to do.”
A report from Connecticut’s Office of Fiscal Analysis and the Office of Legislative Research predicted that 7,500 gaming machines at the OTB facilities would generate $301 million annually for the state.
