Legalized digital gaming, including sports betting, has, one year after being legalized in Connecticut, given a respectable revenue bump to both the Foxwoods Resort Casino and the Mohegan Sun casinos.
Data from October 2021 to August 2022 indicated that online gaming generated $96.2 million for Foxwoods and $80.6 million for the Mohegan Sun. Sports betting generated another $84 million for the two casinos.
The state of Connecticut has also generated some modest tax revenues: $41 million since the launch in September 2021 of online gaming and in October of sports betting. Governor Ned Lamont had actually budgeted $27.8 million from the two plus online gaming on the Connecticut Lottery, according to the Office of Policy and Management. That is expected to climb to $52.9 million by 2026.
The additional money helped Foxwoods to reinvest in its original casino site and the plan for an additional $85 million casino, according to Rodney Butler, chairman of the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation.
Mohegan Sun CEO Ray Pineault, added, “We’re very pleased with the results we saw in year one. We’ve learned some things about the marketing program, how to utilize bricks and mortar and online.”
DraftKings is the sports betting partner with Foxwoods. A spokesman commented, “we’ve seen tremendous engagement and are pleased with the results.”
The online gaming and sports betting compromise agreed to between the state and the tribes was arrived at after many months of negotiating. It started under Governor Dannel P. Malloy and was completed by Governor Ned Lamont, who signed the new law in May 2021.
