July 1 Marks First Day Of Connecticut Regulated Sports Betting

• Connecticut sports betting is officially regulated in its lawbooks starting July 1 but sportsbooks have yet to launch in Connecticut.
• July 1 is also the last day Daily Fantasy Sports (DFS) operations can run in Connecticut without partnering with a sportsbook.

HARTFORD, Conn. – Sports betting is now a regulated market in Connecticut, officially being enacted into law on Thursday.

While sportsbooks have not yet launched in Connecticut just yet, they now can legally apply for sports betting licenses and go live as soon as their platforms are able. Local Connecticut sports betting fans will not have to wait long before these regulated operations begin popping up with open betting lines for NFL season.

Connecticut Sports Betting Is Here

It has been a long fight for Governor Ned Lamont to bring legal sports betting to the Constitution State. Many negotiations with the Mashantucket Pequot Tribe and the Mohegan Indians took months to complete.

Ultimately, new tribal gaming compacts were able to be agreed upon, and HB 6451 successfully managed to pass and be signed into law by the Governor, later gaining federal approval from the Department of Interior as is part of the Indian governing process.

Now the market is simply waiting for sports betting platforms to go live with Kambi and DraftKings. A third operator has not yet been named by the Connecticut Lottery.

One thing that has been negatively affected by this progress in the world of sports gaming, however, is Daily Fantasy Sports (DFS). These operations have been active in Connecticut for some time, but the new sports betting bill requires DFS operations to be partnered with a local sportsbook.

With that fact in mind, if no deal is made for DFS operators like DraftKings and FanDuel with the local tribes or Connecticut Lottery, then they will be unable to operate within the regulated market after July 1.

“There’s a real chance that fantasy sports consumers in Connecticut won’t be able to play fantasy football for prizes and money this fall, which is disappointing,” said Peter Schoenke, a Fantasy Sports & Gaming Association board member. “Thousands of fantasy sports fans are going to be unhappy this fall when they can’t play.”

While no deals have been made, Governor Lamont is still optimistic about them happening before the final deadline passes as negotiations have been ongoing with the current DFS operators. But even without DFS, Thursday is a day for celebration for Connecticut sports bettors as they’ll finally have local sportsbooks to wager with for the upcoming 2021 NFL season.

News tags: Connecticut | Connecticut Lottery | CT Lottery | Daily Fantasy Sports | DFS | DraftKings | FanDuel | Hartford | Kambi | Mashantucket Pequot Tribe | Mohegan Indians | Ned Lamont | NFL | sportsbooks