While it isn’t ideal that Connecticut sports betting did not fully launch, what is important is how it was done. All across the country, we’ve seen the effects of mobile on the total handle. By launching a soft launch with mobile betting, the state seems to have put players first considering the percentage of overall handle that is likely to come via this platform.
Seven Day Soft Launch for Mobile
The Department of Consumer protection has granted the Connecticut Lottery Corporation, Mohegan Tribe, and Mashantucket Pequot Tribe the right to launch digital sports betting. It is considered a soft launch because there will be some restrictions for that seven-day period.
Each one of the three stakeholders in the state will be limited to 750 players during the seven-day soft launch period. The tribal have partnered up with heavyweights FanDuel and DraftKing and will be launch an online casino.
The Connecticut Lottery meanwhile has a deal with Rush Street Interactive and will have a sports betting site of their own. Players across the country that don’t yet have access to legalized sports betting via mobile, can go to OddsTrader once this changes. OddsTrader currently offers betting odds comparison in Illinois, Colorado, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Indiana, Michigan, Virginia, Iowa, and West Virginia.
Retail Bets Started Last Week
Legal sports betting had already started at Foxwoods Resort Casino and Mohegan Sun last week. While that was good news, if you aren’t within driving distance of those casinos, it wasn’t the news you were looking for. The originally scheduled launch date was October 7th but that got pushed back due to some issue in terms of the publication of the amended gaming compacts.
The original delay that led to the original launch date doesn’t seem to make much sense. According to reports, the Federal Register published the Mohegan compact on Sept. 15th but didn’t get around to publishing the Mashantucket Pequot’s compact until almost two weeks later. For this reason, the Department of Consumer Protection had to delay.
Measures Put in Place to Protect Consumers
The Department of Consumer Protection (DCP) is very serious about the responsible gaming side of things as their name should indicate. Their “voluntary exclusion portal” which is a self-exclusion list is part of their responsible gaming initiative. That’s a great start but that’s not the only measure in place that will protect Connecticut residents.
The state is requiring operators to have timers on their apps. These timers are designed to help people that may have an issue with spending too much time on these wagering apps. The timer tracks exactly how long you’ve been playing and an alert once you’ve wagered $2500. That isn’t a limit, rather it is the point at which the user would begin receiving alerts from the state about how much they are spending.
All in all, this is good news for sports betting fans in Connecticut. Although limited, for now, mobile betting accounts for the majority of wagers in the states where it is already legal. It’s inevitable that it will be the same in Connecticut so it’s fair to say that this constitutes great news.
