Connecticut’s Public Safety and Security Committee has sent legislation that would legalize sports betting and iGaming to the House and Senate floors.
It’s possible legislation could be in place in time for this year’s NFL season.
The three bills put into law the deal made by Governor Ned Lamont with the Mashantucket Pequots and Mohegans, owners of Foxwoods and the Mohegan Sun giving them the exclusive right to offer online gaming and sportsbooks, except for the CT Lottery. A third bill gives the tribes the option to develop a commercial casino in Bridgeport.
The committee voted 20-2 to advance the governor’s bill. A bill Senator Cathy Osten wrote would earmark some of the new revenue to local municipal aid.
All the bills are unfinished and are being advanced as works in progress, leaving a number of issues unaddressed.
Committee Co-chairwoman Maria Horn commented, “This is an ongoing conversation,” adding, “There are details to be worked out.”
Under Lamont’s deal, any smartphone, other mobile platform or computer could be used for sports wagers. Sportech, which operates off-track betting in the state, is threatening to sue for the right to offer sports betting. The Lamont deal offers Sportech a share of sports betting through the CT Lottery, but only at brick-and-mortar locations.
The tribes say their tribal state gaming compacts guarantee them exclusivity on all gaming, including sports wagering. Under those compacts, they pay 25 percent of slots revenue in exchange for a monopoly. Lamont and his chief of staff Paul Mounds told a press conference Monday that they have hopes the sports and online gaming will be approved in time for the 2021 NFL season.
Lamont told reporters, “The wild card in the pack, of course, is how fast…the legislature gets their bill passed, but probably the one we have less control over is the Department of the Interior,” Lamont said. “I’d like to think we can expedite that.” The federal government needs to approve any tribal state gaming compact.
Mounds added, “By the time of the start of football season in the fall, we should be up and running here in Connecticut.”
The governor said he thought tribes will earn an additional $100 million annually. The CT Lottery estimates that it will bring in an additional $1.7 billion over the next five years from internet lottery games.
Under the deal, the lottery will sell its existing products online and have a sports betting platform similar to what the tribes will have, and be able to launch as many as 15 retail sportsbook locations.
Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation Rodney Butler commented, “The agreement needs to be passed by the legislature, the compact needs federal approval and the state needs to approve regulations, so we can’t know the timing for certain.” He added, “But we are ready to be up and running quickly, by the beginning of the NFL season if everything goes smoothly.”
