The first retail sportsbooks began taking wagers in Connecticut on October 25. Following a ribbon-cutting, the in-person betting kicked off at Sportech Venues in New Haven, operated by Rush Street Interactive (RSI), which has partnered with the Connecticut Lottery Corp. under RSI’s PlaySugarHouse brand.
Fourteen more sportsbooks are planned, including at Bobby V’s Restaurants and Sports Bars in Stamford and Windsor Locks.
Connecticut Lottery President and CEO Greg Smith said in a statement: “This has been a long time coming for Connecticut players, and we’re honored to be the only statewide retail operator.”
He added, “Together with our partners Rush Street Interactive and Sportech Venues, we can offer bettors world-class, in-person sportsbooks at accessible locations throughout the state and mobile sports betting under the PlaySugarHouse brand.”
RSI CEO Richard Schwartz said in a statement, “By combining the Connecticut Lottery’s brand recognition and retail presence throughout Connecticut, Sportech’s easy-to-access venues, and RSI’s market proven products and services, we look forward to delivering convenient and exciting sports betting options to PlaySugarHouse players across the state.”
Sportech Venues President Ted Taylor added, “Our Sportech team is delighted to be Connecticut Lottery’s and RSI’s partner for delivering this exciting product here and in all our other locations soon.”
Soon-to-open locations will be in the cities of Hartford, Manchester, New Britain, Norwalk, Waterbury, Torrington and Milford.
The new sportsbooks will offer wall-to-wall screens and odds boards as well as food and drinks. Bettors can wager on pro and collegiate sports, placing parlays, prop bets and in-game bets. They can choose from self-service kiosks or staffed windows.
RSI also offers a mobile platform that includes numerous betting options, live streaming content, bonusing and rewards programs, ways to deposit and withdraw cash and tools for responsible gaming such as time limits and spending limits.
Earlier, on October 19, the Mashantucket Pequot tribe and its partner DraftKings began operating online sports betting and online casino wagering by app. This came after a weeklong soft opening.
Only the Pequots, who operates Foxwoods Resorts Casino and the Mohegan Tribe, which operates the Mohegan Sun, may offer online betting of any kind.
Online gaming is taxed at 20 percent and sports betting at 13.75 percent.
Connecticut’s sportsbook market got a boost its first week from neighboring New York State, which won’t be introducing sports betting until early next year. Previously, the closest that Empire Staters could go to place sports bets was New Jersey.
Although its population is a mere 3.5 million, Connecticut quickly became the ninth-ranked sports betting market, with over 1.2 million bets placed during the soft launch alone. It’s already rolled past Colorado, which has a population of 5.7 million.
Chad Kornett, VP Global Government Relations at GeoComply, which provides geolocation services to Connecticut, told Gaming Americas, “We’ve learned from the New Jersey experience that New Yorkers are clearly motivated to travel locally to bet on sites where proper consumer protections have been put in place that safeguard the integrity of their wager.”
He added, “Connecticut looks to be quickly following a similar pattern: Easily accessed from the New York City area, GeoComply’s data shows 38 percent of Connecticut’s wagering activity has originated from the southwestern corner of the state along the I-95 corridor.”
The heaviest volumes were centered in Stamford and Bridgeport, and highway entry points from New York.
