Connecticut Lawmakers Spurn Tribes, Advance Commercial Sports Betting

• SB 17 has passed the CT Senate’s Public Safety and Security Committee.
• The law would allow for commercial casino gaming and annul existing tribal compacts.

HARTFORD, Conn. – In a surprise move, Connecticut lawmakers have overwhelmingly voted to pass sports betting and gambling expansion out of committee and onto the Senate floor. The debate around Connecticut sports betting is about to get very heated and very interesting.

On Tuesday, the Connecticut Public Safety and Security Committee moved forward on several gambling initiatives, all in seeming conflict with the local Mashantucket Pequot and Mohegan tribes that have nominal gambling exclusivity in the state. The bill, SB 17, is primed to fundamentally alter the gaming landscape in the state.

Most pressingly, the initiative flies in the face of the memorandums of understanding (MOUs) signed by the state and the tribes. These MOUs – and their associated tribal compacts – give exclusive gambling rights to the aforementioned tribes, who operate two of the biggest casinos in the world in the Foxwoods Resort Casino and the Mohegan Sun.

Under the current bipartisan proposal, Connecticut would approve sports betting, Internet lottery gaming, and a new commercial casino. The commercial casino, an MGM property tentatively slated to be built in Bridgeport.

Each of these contingencies is a sticking point for the tribes, who are openly seeking to annul their compacts and withhold their profit-share payments with Connecticut should the state follow through on its current gaming platform.

Why Connecticut Supports Tearing Up The Compacts

The tribes may no longer have much leverage in this conflict. While the tribal compacts guarantee that Connecticut receives a minimum of $80 million from both the Mashantucket Pequot operations at the Foxwoods and the Mohegan operations at the Mohegan Sun, this $160 million baseline could be irrelevant.

This is largely due to the financial mandates being applied to the new MGM casino (and any other commercial venue approved to open under the proposed law). Such casinos would have to meet several specific spending and employment requirements to operate in the state.

Among these, each new casino would have to have a minimum of $500 million invested in its facility, and the ownership company or group would have to commit to hiring a minimum of 2000 employees per casino. The new venues would also have to pay the state 25% of gross revenue and 10% of all slot revenue. Further, any prospective casino would have to pay $8 million per year to the local town in which it operates.

Outside of new commercial casino interests, SB 17 would give the Connecticut Lottery the right to conduct legal sports betting at four brick-and-mortar locations and over the Internet. Other sports wagering licenses would be given to OTB operators in the state, and revenue would be taxed at 10% at all non-lottery betting operators.

With a few quick, back-of-the-envelope calculations, it’s easy to see that the State stands to make as much or more money with this arrangement than it does under the current profit-sharing scheme it has with the tribes.

Also beneficially, the new legislative plan would allow for easier future gaming expansion with commercial brands, boosting the state’s take even more. Plus, according to Sen. Dennis Bradley (D-Bridgeport), it will boost Connecticut’s tourism market.

“We will be America’s playground, where everyone can come and have a good time and be in a safe environment and enjoy not just casinos, but enjoy the entertainment that is going to come, enjoy the landscape that already exists, enjoy our harbor and our waterfront.”

The Mashantucket Pequot and Mohegan tribal nations have not yet responded to these latest developments.

News tags: Connecticut | Connecticut sports betting | CT SB 17 | CT tribal gaming