Mobile sports betting and online gaming launches in Connecticut

After a seven-day trial period, online sports betting and online gaming is officially live in Connecticut. This makes Connecticut the 28th U.S. state with live legalized sports betting since PASPA was abolished by the Supreme Court back in May 2018. It also joins New Hampshire and Rhode Island as the New England states with legalized sports betting.

Foxwoods Resort Casino, Mohegan Sun and the Connecticut Lottery are the current players in the state for online sports betting and iGaming.

In addition, Rush Street Interactive announced the statewide launch of the PlaySugarHouse online sportsbook in Connecticut. The official sportsbook of the Connecticut Lottery will be available 24 hours a day, seven days a week on all mobile devices, tablets, desktop and laptop computers for unlimited players aged 21 and older.

Mohegan Sun and FanDuel released a real money online gaming experience for residents and visitors to the state of Connecticut. Starting today, MoheganSunCasino.com, the Mohegan Sun Casino app and FanDuel Sportsbook app, are now available in the state.

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— FanDuel Sportsbook (@FDSportsbook) October 19, 2021

“We’ve been talking about online gaming for almost a decade now here at Mashantucket even before it was legalized in other jurisdictions,” said Rodney Butler, Chairman of the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation, at a press conference this morning. “What we’ve seen, in particular, in New Jersey and Pennsylvania is that it really expands the ecosystem of gaming.”

DraftKings and Foxwoods also teamed up to get a piece of the action as well. Now all customers 21 years of age and older in the state of Connecticut can place a variety of sports bets and play casino games such as slots, blackjack and roulette using the co-branded Foxwoods and DraftKings Sportsbook and Casino app on their mobile device.

The first wager accepted by DraftKings was $25 on the Los Angeles Dodgers at -180 to beat the Atlanta Braves in tonight’s National League Championship game.

The product launched at 6 a.m. this morning and Butler said “there have been thousands of bets that have been placed since that time.”

DraftKings Casino is here! To celebrate our partnership, new customers in CT get $50 in FREE DraftKings casino credits + a 100% deposit match up to $2,000. Grab your phone and get ready to experience a whole new world. T&Cs apply

Play now: https://t.co/svO9QQcgMF pic.twitter.com/PhCmGUmcVf

— Foxwoods Resort Casino (@FoxwoodsCT) October 19, 2021

But the excitement doesn’t stop there. Foxwoods launched a retail DraftKings Sportsbook on 30 September but it was the only the temporary location that was introduced. There are major plans for the permanent one.

“We have one of the most amazing sportsbook venues that you will ever see in this country, and possibly the world, behind the vision of our CEO Jason Guyotte and the work that he is doing. We are looking at doing a ribbon-cutting for that in mid-November and it will be a sight to be seen,” said Butler.

With legalized sports betting still in what seems to be a standstill in Massachusetts, this provides an opportunity to gamblers in Massachusetts to go to Connecticut to place some bets if they wish.

Matthew Kalish, President of DraftKings North America, believes it will be a “really strong” presence of Massachusetts bettors coming to Connecticut to use the mobile sportsbooks and online gaming outlets. Kalish also has seen in other U.S. markets that tourists who are in states with DraftKings available tend to demonstrate a “one-time play behavior” when they are visiting those certain states.

Personally, I could see myself in that category of heading over to Connecticut to place a sports bet now that these options are available. It couldn’t come at a better time too, the NBA kicks off tonight, the NHL is underway, MLB playoffs are in full swing and the NFL season is in full swing.

There are plenty of things to consider wagering on and the launch of mobile sports betting for Foxwoods and DraftKings during the NFL season was “incredibly important” as Butler put it.

Let’s not forget about the online gaming factor of today in Connecticut.

Today marks the opportunity for players throughout the Constitution State to be able to play slots and table games through the Foxwoods and Mohegan online casinos.