Gambling in Connecticut-The Nutmeg State
Here we are with the last six posts in our updated series on Gambling in New England. This series of posts has looked into each state as of today, in the summer of 2022. Our last state to cover approved sports betting and iGaming in 2021. Here is a comprehensive report on Gambling in Connecticut-The Nutmeg State
The state has a pair of casinos run by Native American tribes with all the luxury of the best Vegas establishments. Meanwhile, Connecticut online gambling sites are putting bettors in virtual casinos and sportsbooks to enhance their experience.
No horse racing tracks are operating in the state of Connecticut. But off-track wagering is legal in the state on horse racing, dog racing, and jai alai.
These two Tribal casinos have been significant tourist destinations since their appearance in the 1990s. Unfortunately, with those two casinos/resorts in place, the state hasn’t found any reason to include legal, private casinos as part of the landscape, and that’s unlikely to change.
Gambling in Connecticut-The Nutmeg State Timeline
Before the Casinos
Jai Alai – by the summer of 1976, two large jai alai frontons opened in Hartford and Bridgeport and quickly emerged as the premier legal gambling sites in the state. Then, in 1977, a third jai alai fronton opened in Milford.
Throughout its tenure in Connecticut, suspicions and assertions of corruption and match-fixing hung over the state’s jai alai industry. The culmination of such claims came with the 1977 conviction of numerous members of the “Miami Syndicate” gambling ring, who allegedly fixed up to 253 matches at the Milford location.
As individual states began to legalize casino gambling and Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun opened and expanded, the interest in jai alai gradually waned. In the spring of 1995, Bridgeport’s fronton closed its doors and built a dog track. Five months later, the popular Hartford location closed. Finally, the Milford fronton outlasted its counterparts by six years, closing in December 2001.
Greyhound Racing – Plainfield Greyhound Park, the state’s first track, opened in 1976, and Shoreline Star Greyhound Park, a former jai alai fronton, was converted into a racing facility in 1995. However, by 2005, live racing had ended at both facilities after years of declining attendance and diminished wagering.
Greyhound racing itself remains legal in Connecticut.
Connecticut Lottery
On February 15, 1972, the Connecticut State Lottery began ticket sales at 3,000 retailer locations statewide, offering one game called “The Lottery.” Tickets cost 50 cents each. Drawings are held weekly with a top prize of $5,000. Connecticut’s Lottery was the fourth in the nation.
Here’s a Timeline of what followed:
- 1975 – September 9, 1975: “Instant Match,” the first scratch game in CT, goes on sale.
- 1991: Lottery contributions to the state’s General Fund top the $2 billion mark.
- September 2010: Instant ticket vending machines are installed in select Lottery retailer locations, increasing player convenience and helping to reduce lines at the registers.
- August 2011: The CT Lottery transitions to a mobile-friendly website
- October 2014: The CT Lottery wins an award for best Responsible Gambling Communications in the Electronic Category for Retailer Training by the North American Association of State and Provincial Lotteries.
- February 2, 2016: The Connecticut Lottery Corporation agreed with the British Columbia Lottery Corporation (BCLC) for the right to use “GameSense,” BCLC’s proprietary, award-winning responsible gaming education program.
- October 19, 2021: CT Lottery and its partner Rush Street Interactive launch the PlaySugarHouse.com online sportsbook.
Gambling in Connecticut – Casinos Emerge – Timeline
Two of the largest casinos in the country reside in CT. Furthermore, both are only ten minutes away from each other. Finally, both are tribal casinos and offer everything Las Vegas resorts offer on the Strip.
The tribes and the state have a compact that requires 25% of all slot revenue. Here’s the Timeline of how it all came about:
- 1986 – The Mashantucket Pequot Tribe, one of two federally-recognized Native American tribes in the state, opened a bingo parlor. It was declared legal when a court agreed that the parlor could operate on sovereign Native American land.
- 1992 – Foxwoods opens
- The first New England Casino, Foxwoods, opened. Despite initial plans to close the casino at 2 AM, gamblers just kept staying and gambling.
- In 1992, the Foxwoods added table games,
- 1993 –
- Foxwoods adds Slot machines.
- The Grand Cedar Hotel was built and opened.
The Beginning of Connecticut Casino Dominance
- 1996 – The Mohegan Tribe opened the second New England casino in Uncasville, CT. Casino officials estimated some 40,000 had passed through on the first day.
- 1997 – Foxwoods opens Grand Pequot Tower.
- 1998 – Mashantucket Pequot Museum & Research Center opens with a 308,000-square-foot complex consisting of permanent exhibits, the Mashantucket Gallery for temporary exhibits, classrooms, a 320-seat auditorium, a restaurant, a museum shop, and administrative offices.
- 2001 – Mohegan Sun completes Mohegan Sun Arena as part of “Project Sunburst,” a 10,000-seat multi-purpose arena. It was a five million-square-foot expansion.
- It included a 34-story, 1,200-room luxury hotel, meeting and function space including the northeast’s largest ballroom, retail shopping, and nine new restaurants. In addition, Mohegan Sun added a 300-seat cabaret, a world-class spa, a business center, an indoor pool, and an outdoor terrace.
- 2007 to 2011 – Connecticut’s casino revenue begins to drop by 20%,
- 2008 – Foxwoods announced they would lease the MGM Grand brand name for the new building project. MGM Mirage would be a partner in the expansion project.
After the Recession
- 2013 – MGM pulls out of its Foxwoods partnership.
- 2015 – Foxwoods opens Tanger Outlet Mall between the two hotel towers with 85 stores.
- 2016 – The Earth Tower officially opened on November 18, 2016. It is the second hotel option at Mohegan Sun.
- 2018 – Mohegan Sun opens Earth Expo Center. It has an innovative design with 125,000 square feet of contiguous, column-free exhibit space. In addition to a 20,000-square-foot ballroom, it boasts 15 additional meeting rooms and pre-function areas for a total of 175,000 square feet.
- 2019 – The federal government announced the approval of the Tribal Winds Casino, a third casino in east Windsor, CT., aimed at countering the loss of gaming revenues from the opening of the $960 million MGM Springfield in August 2018.
- 2021 – A massive bill allows both sports betting and online casino gambling to be state-sanctioned for the first time.
Casinos
Foxwoods Resort & Casino – Mashantucket, CT.
The first New England Casino, Foxwoods Resort Casino, is expanding again. It was the world’s largest casino at its peak, with 6,300 slot machines and ten thousand employees. In 2012, if you included everything — hotel space, bars and restaurants, theaters and ballrooms, spa, bowling alley — Foxwoods measured about 6.7 million square feet, more than the Pentagon!
In the post-pandemic era, Foxwoods is expanding, renovating, and looking for new geographic for its brand. Recently, it extended its brand to Puerto Rico.
In addition, Foxwoods is changing things around and expanding by adding the Great Wolf Lodge in 2024 and redesigning a new Bingo Hall. Foxwoods seems ready to take on the future with additional family attractions and a new “Rainmaker Expo Center” that will offer 75,000 square feet of space for corporate meetings, trade shows, and sporting events.
Related Post – How Did Foxwoods Get So Big?
Two of the largest casinos in the country reside in CT. Furthermore, both are only ten minutes away from each other. Finally, both are tribal casinos and offer everything Las Vegas resorts offer on the Strip.
The tribes and the state have a compact that requires 25% of all slot revenue. Here’s the Timeline of how it all came about:
- 1986 – The Mashantucket Pequot Tribe, one of two federally-recognized Native American tribes in the state, opened a bingo parlor. It was declared legal when a court agreed that the parlor could operate on sovereign Native American land.
- 1992 – Foxwoods opens
- The first New England Casino, Foxwoods, opened. Despite initial plans to close the casino at 2 AM, gamblers just kept staying and gambling.
- In 1992, the Foxwoods added table games,
- 1993 –
- Foxwoods adds Slot machines.
- The Grand Cedar Hotel was built and opened.
The Beginning of Connecticut Casino Dominance
- 1996 – The Mohegan Tribe opened the second New England casino in Uncasville, CT. Casino officials estimated some 40,000 had passed through on the first day.
- 1997 – Foxwoods opens Grand Pequot Tower.
- 1998 – Mashantucket Pequot Museum & Research Center opens with a 308,000-square-foot complex consisting of permanent exhibits, the Mashantucket Gallery for temporary exhibits, classrooms, a 320-seat auditorium, a restaurant, a museum shop, and administrative offices.
- 2001 – Mohegan Sun completes Mohegan Sun Arena as part of “Project Sunburst,” a 10,000-seat multi-purpose arena. It was a five million-square-foot expansion.
- It included a 34-story, 1,200-room luxury hotel, meeting and function space including the northeast’s largest ballroom, retail shopping, and nine new restaurants. In addition, Mohegan Sun added a 300-seat cabaret, a world-class spa, a business center, an indoor pool, and an outdoor terrace.
- 2007 to 2011 – Connecticut’s casino revenue begins to drop by 20%,
- 2008 – Foxwoods announced they would lease the MGM Grand brand name for the new building project. MGM Mirage would be a partner in the expansion project.
After the Recession
- 2013 – MGM pulls out of its Foxwoods partnership.
- 2015 – Foxwoods opens Tanger Outlet Mall between the two hotel towers with 85 stores.
- 2016 – The Earth Tower officially opened on November 18, 2016. It is the second hotel option at Mohegan Sun.
- 2018 – Mohegan Sun opens Earth Expo Center. It has an innovative design with 125,000 square feet of contiguous, column-free exhibit space. In addition to a 20,000-square-foot ballroom, it boasts 15 additional meeting rooms and pre-function areas for a total of 175,000 square feet.
- 2019 – The federal government announced the approval of the Tribal Winds Casino, a third casino in east Windsor, CT., aimed at countering the loss of gaming revenues from the opening of the $960 million MGM Springfield in August 2018.
- 2021 – A massive bill is signed into law that allows both sports betting and online casino gambling to be conducted in a state-sanctioned fashion for the first time.
Casinos
Foxwoods Resort & Casino – Mashantucket, CT.
The first New England Casino, Foxwoods Resort Casino, is expanding again. It was the world’s largest casino at its peak, with 6,300 slot machines and ten thousand employees. In 2012, if you included everything — hotel space, bars and restaurants, theaters and ballrooms, spa, bowling alley — Foxwoods measured about 6.7 million square feet, more than the Pentagon!
In the post-pandemic era, Foxwoods is expanding, renovating, and looking for new geographic for its brand. Recently, it extended its brand to Puerto Rico.
In addition, Foxwoods is changing things around and expanding by adding the Great Wolf Lodge in 2024 and redesigning a new Bingo Hall. Foxwoods seems ready to take on the future with additional family attractions and a new “Rainmaker Expo Center” that will offer 75,000 square feet of space for corporate meetings, trade shows, and sporting events.
Related Post – How Did Foxwoods Get So Big?
Mohegan Sun Resort & Casino – Uncasville, CT.
The Mohegan tribe and Mohegan Gaming & Entertainment (MGE) have continued to extend their name across the country and the globe. In 2022, “Neon Uncasville” marked its 25th anniversary.
Once, Mohegan Sun and Foxwoods had the most slot machines and table games of any casino, averaging around 6400 slots and over 300 tables. After the recession, competition, and the pandemic, those numbers have diminished significantly to almost half.
MGE has concentrated on expanding its brand globally. Las Vegas, South Korea, and Canada. Its American portfolio, besides Las Vegas, includes Resorts Atlantic City, Mohegan Sun, Pocono (PA), and ilani Resort in Washington State.
Related Post – 25 Years Of Growth at Mohegan Sun
Casinos by the Numbers
Online Gaming and Sportsbetting
The agreement reached in March of 2021 amended the state pact that gave Mohegan Sun and Foxwoods Resort Casino exclusive gambling rights in Connecticut for almost thirty years. It will also allow the Connecticut Lottery to run sports betting only in cooperation with tribal entities. Connecticut doesn’t offer many online gaming vendors for a small state, but it certainly has quality, with three sportsbooks at the top of the industry.
Mobile SportsBetting
Bettors have three options for selecting an online sportsbook in CT
- DraftKings Sportsbook – The Boston-based company, found a partner in the Mashantucket Pequot tribe, who operates Foxwoods Resort and Casino.
- FanDuel Sportsbook – FanDuel Sportsbook has partnered with Mohegan Gaming and Entertainment
- PlaySugarHouse Sportsbook – The third online sportsbook in Connecticut is Sugarhouse Sportsbook via the lottery. At least 15 different sportsbooks applied for that mobile sports betting skin, though the lottery did not reveal the identities of any applicants. The CT Lottery announced RSI as its partner after narrowing the field to four. PlaySugarHouse Connecticut is the brand available to customers in the state.
Summary
Connecticut is a big part of the immense competition between the casinos in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and New York. Massachusetts will soon have sports betting. Connecticut is the only one mentioned with mobile iGaming, and New York State is rumored to add casinos in and around New York City. The future will surely be exciting to watch.
Robin “Binbin” Aubin