Connecticut’s Governor has voiced his support for efforts to legalise online gambling in the state.
Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont has voiced his support for the legalisation of sports betting and online gambling in the state.
This comes after the Governor of New York came out in support of the legalisation of online sports betting.
Lamont supports sports betting
During his State of the State address yesterday, Lamont explained that 2020 had been an incredibly “challenging and humbling” period due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Lamont went on to explain that Connecticut was working with its neighbouring states to coordinate their responses to the impact of the impact. The Governor said he would continue to leverage the state’s relationships with its neighbours as part of the state’s economic recovery.
In the announcement, Lamont said Connecticut would work with its neighbouring states to “modernize” gaming in the state as well as the legislature to legalise marijuana.
Lamont said: “Sports betting, internet gaming, and legalized marijuana are happening all around us. Let’s not surrender these opportunities to out-of-state markets or even worse, underground markets.”
Gambling in CT
Gambling in the state of Connecticut is currently exclusively offered by the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation-owned Foxwoods and Mohegan Tribe’s Mohegan Sun.
This means that any legislation to expand gambling in the state must be agreed upon with the tribe. This also means that Foxwoods will play a key role in the future of the state’s betting market.
Connecticut has yet to legalise sports wagering, however, the vertical is expected to generate $175m in new revenue for the state in the first five years of operation.
Although the state has yet to expand gambling operations, both tribes in the state have selected partners in anticipation of new regulations. In December 2020, Foxwoods inked an agreement with DraftKings for online and mobile sports betting. Mohegan Sun, on the other hand, already has an existing deal in place with the Unibet operator Kindred Group.
Last year, the tribes in Connecticut attempted to secure temporary approval to launch online gambling during the period their venues were closed due to the coronavirus pandemic.
However, these attempts were unsuccessful with Lamont rejecting the requests in April.
