Connecticut Officially Launches Sports Betting
Connecticut sports betting launched officially on Thursday morning. Governor Ned Lamont made two ceremonial first bets, one at Foxwoods Resort Casino, which is run by DraftKings Sportsbook and their partner the Manshantucket Pequot Tribal Nation, and Mohegan Sun, which is run by FanDuel Sportsbook and their partner the Mohegan Tribe.
Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Chairman Rodney Butler thanked everyone involved in starting this process in a written statement on Thursday.
FanDuel and DraftKings
“We thank Governor Lamont and his administration, regulators, and the many lawmakers who helped pave the way for legal sports betting and expanded gaming in the state. Their collaboration and hard work has allowed trusted gaming operators like our Tribe and DraftKings to help lead innovation across Connecticut. With NFL season in full force, it’s game on, and we look forward to a successful launch.”
FanDuel and DraftKings Sportsbooks launched their retail operations on Thursday as well. For now, sports fans living in Connecticut are only able to place legal sports bets at Foxwoods Casino or Mohegan Sun, but this will probably not be the case for long. DraftKings and FanDuel are currently operating out of locations within these casinos on a temporary basis.
Connecticut Lottery
These two betting locations are the first of many to be launched in Connecticut. The Connecticut Lottery is currently scheduled to launch its retail and online sportsbooks in early October.
It will also launch and operate 15 retail sportsbooks throughout the entire state, including locations in the state capitol, Hartford. At least 10 of those locations will operating at existing locations owned by Sportech, a betting technology business.
Richard Schwarz, the president of Rush Street Interactive, said that even though the Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun Casinos pose a lot of competition to the sportsbooks launched by the Connecticut Lottery, he is confident that the betting options offered by the lottery will draw a huge crowd.
“I think the proximity to population centers and the convenience that we offer is something that’s going to stand out,” Schwarz said, “We also have a lot of innovation on the product side.”
As sports betting increases in popularity and as the community grows (especially online,) more and more states have been enacting laws, bills, and other legislations to legalize sports betting and make the process more accessible to the public.
Connecticut is one of four other states who have launched sports betting this September. The other four are Arizona, South Dakota, Washington, and Wyoming. This means that there are now 27 states that have legalized sports betting in some way, shape, or form. Louisiana and Maryland sports betting could launch later this fall.
It will be a little longer until sports fans can place bets anywhere, but Connecticut is well on its way to broadening the reach of legal sports betting. This launch was timed very well, as the NFL season is in full swing and the MLB playoffs are about to start. Betting enthusiasts will, very quickly, have access to a lot of diverse betting outlets, both retail and online.
