Sports Betting In Connecticut

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Connecticut sports betting details. The announcement between the governor’s office and the Mohegan Indians finally gave insight into expanded gaming in the state: Sports betting revenue would be taxed at 13.5% while iGaming gets a 20% tax rate. The Mohegan Indians get one skin. The tribe signed Kambi as a sports betting partner nearly two. The agreement for sports betting with the Tribal Nations was the starting point to all of this. This will get everything started for sports betting legislation. HB 2813 is a sports betting bill sponsored by Senator Sonny Borrelli (Republican) and Representative Stephen Pierce (Republican).

Happy Monday, everyone. Sports betting news was mostly dominated by legislative updates and state reports last week, which is typical for this time of year.

The LSR Podcast broke down some of those biggest state reports and looked at a recap of reported Super Bowl 55 handle so far.

The state legislative updates will be coming fast and furiously through early summer at this point. Make sure to follow @LSPReport on Twitter to get those updates as we cover them.

Top sports betting news: Michigan quick off online start line

Sports betting in Michigan launched last March just before the coronavirus pandemic, but that was only retail. Everyone knew the true test of the market would come once online went live.

Michigan certainly didn’t disappoint with $115.2 million bet online in the first 10 days. That led to $13.3 million in gross sports betting revenue, which drastically dropped to a loss of $5.2 million once promos were deducted. No doubt the market was spurred by the simultaneous launch of online casino gaming, which had $29.4 million in gross revenue during those 10 days.

Even more telling than the total handle was who took those bets. While there were 11 sportsbooks live in those 10 days, four showed early potential to become a market leader.

FanDuel Sportsbook, DraftKings Sportsbook, Barstool Sportsbook and BetMGM combined for 96.4% of total handle and 93.2% of total gross revenue.

IL, NJ, PA release latest numbers too

We also saw sports betting revenue reports out of three of the top US sports betting jurisdictions last week:

  • Illinois‘ gaming regulators finally graced all of us with their December report, which showed a new record of $492 million bet. Hold dropped to 5.7% from 8.2% in November, though, which meant IL sports betting revenue fell to $28.4 million.
  • New Jersey sports betting set a new revenue record with $82.6 million in January while handle fell 4% from December to $958.7 million.
  • Pennsylvania sportsbooks took a record $615.3 million in bets last month, which was up 12.2% from its previous record set in December.

Full Canada sports betting inches forward

One of last week’s top sports betting stories was news from our northern neighbor.

A bill that would remove a federal ban on single-game sports betting in Canada progressed through its second hearing vote last week by a significant 303-15 margin Wednesday.

The bill now moves to the Justice Committee where it gets a third hearing this week. A vote on that hearing has not yet been scheduled.

Virginia sports betting bills head to conference again

Virginia‘s two legislative chambers just cannot agree on VA sports betting details.

Just like last year, both chambers insisted on their version of bills that would tweak the state’s sports betting law. What’s potentially frustrating for those sponsors is the bills are simply cleaning up language from last year’s enabling legislation.

The proposal, which could see final approval this week if the conference works quickly, would exempt mobile sports betting licenses connected with casinos in the state from the maximum cap of 12 mobile-only licenses. Betting on the Olympics and more would also be approved through the legislation.

Good sportsbooks steal trademarks, great sportsbooks register them?

Barstool Sportsbook is accused of stealing content by a competitor.

Portnoy tweeted a letter sent from Westgate Superbook ordering the brand to stop using its trademarked “Good teams win, great teams cover” phrase.

Portnoy said there’s no chance Westgate invented the saying, which might be true. That has nothing to do with infringing on a trademark, of course, that Westgate successfully registered in 2012.

Vermont tries again for legal sports betting

The latest effort to legalize sports betting in Vermont is now live in the state legislature.

This year’s bill would authorize up to six mobile sportsbooks as well as retail betting through the state lottery.

Sports

The state needs to do something soon if it wants to stay ahead of local competition. Vermont has four borders – Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York and the province of Quebec in Canada – that could all have legal single-game mobile betting by the end of this year.

BetMGM sports betting partnership with Topgolf

A new partnership between BetMGM and Topgolf Entertainment will see the two collaborate on marketing and promotional offers.

The agreement includes select Topgolf locations where sports betting is legal and within online golf game WGT.

Locations where the partnership will first launch include Denver, Detroit, Indianapolis, Las Vegas, Nashville and Virginia Beach.

WynnBET partners with Genius Sports

The expanding WynnBET-branded interactive segment of Wynn Resorts will now get its data from Genius Sports.

The agreement includes data for NASCAR, the English Premier League and hundreds of other sports organizations.

The deal spans multiple states, beginning with WynnBET’s live operations in Colorado, Michigan and New Jersey with more states to follow.

Wynn is working toward more state launches before the NFL season kicks off later this year.

There’s finally a tribal agreement in place that will let Connecticut legalize sports betting and iGaming.

Well, at least partially.

Gov. Ned Lamont and the Mohegan Indians announced an agreement a long time in the making – but only them. Notably missing was the Mashantucket Pequot from the announcement.

That’s because there’s still one financial point to negotiate between Lamont’s office and the Mashantucket Pequot, Chairman Rodney Butler said at a Joint Public Safety and Security Committee meeting earlier Tuesday.

The Connecticut Lottery and OTB operator Sportech can also get involved in CT sports betting through the agreement.

Details on Connecticut sports betting agreement

There were very few details given on negotiations at the committee meeting Tuesday other than an official announcement could be coming as soon as the afternoon.

The announcement finally broke out some of the finer details of the agreement:

  • Sports betting revenue will be taxed at 13.75%. iGaming will be taxed at 20%.
  • The Lottery can operate 15 retail sports betting locations as well as one online skin. There will also be new Lottery-run sports betting venues in Bridgeport and Hartford.
  • The Lottery can sub-license some of those operations to Sportech, but Sportech will not get operations or an online skin of its own.

Mohegan signed Kambi as a sportsbook partner nearly two years ago.

Butler didn’t expect two-sided announcement

Lamont’s Chief of Staff Paul Mounds said an announcement could be made Tuesday even if just one tribal operator agreed.

Mashantucket Pequot Chairman Rodney Butler was skeptical of that, though:

“This is a three-party deal and it takes all three parties for it to move forward. So the suggestion that there will be an announcement with one tribe or another tribe, it just goes at the heart of this deal and what it isn’t and what can’t be possible.

“So we’ll continue to work together and I know we’ll get through this last point. It’ll be successful for not only the two tribes but incredibly favorable for the state of Connecticut. I’m certain you’ll recognize that when you see those terms as the come forward, hopefully as Paul mentioned this afternoon with all of us in agreement.”

No details on what final negotiation point is

Butler didn’t say what the final sticking point was for the negotiations, though he did say it is a much bigger deal for his tribe than the state.

“In the context of this deal, this point is insignificant,” Butler said. “More so for the state, it’s insignificant. It’s a revenue question which is less than a rounding error for the state but to my nation it means sustainability.”

Sports Betting In Connecticut Update Today

Butler later mentioned the amount is about $1 million. That’s compared to the state budget of $23 billion versus the Mashantucket Pequot’s budget that’s in the tens of millions, he added.

Butler: negotiations include more revenue than Lamont expected

Lamont is banking on sports betting and iGaming being legalized this year. He included $47 million in revenue from the two into his budget starting in fiscal 2022.

Butler praised the “exceptional job” Lamont’s team has done negotiating. He does appear to believe there is room for continued movement.

“The deal on the table today significantly exceeds those numbers,” Butler said. “Significantly. So you’ll be pleased, the citizens of Connecticut will be pleased, we’ll all be pleased at the end.”

Is sports betting a casino game?

One longstanding topic that could be the main focus of an eventual lawsuit was skirted around by the governor’s team.

Rep. Alphonse Paolillo pressed the governor’s representatives on whether the administration believes sports betting is a casino game or not.

“I can’t answer that but in terms of what’s relevant, in terms of what we’re trying to accomplish here, we’re trying to reach an agreement,” said David Lehman, commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development. “Obviously there’s been different opinions over time on the question you’re asking.”

The question is an important one because of others who get locked out of sports betting. That might include the Connecticut Lottery and pari-mutuel wagering operator Sportech.

Sports Betting In Connecticut 2021

The Mohegan and Mashantucket Pequot have exclusivity to casino gaming in the state, so the two point to arguments that classify sports betting as such a game. So far, the Connecticut Lottery and Sportech have not been a part of the negotiations, various parties confirmed Tuesday.