Sports betting in state should be legalized ASAP
Gov. Ned Lamont used a small portion of his State of the State address Wednesday to voice support for the legalization of sports gambling in Connecticut.
His words, this time, must be followed by legislative action that would signal an end to the indecision plaguing lawmakers and potential stakeholders for more than two and half years.
Everyone has wasted enough time.
Connecticut has lost enough money.
The people of this state bet on sports. They do so (legally) elsewhere, crossing the border to Rhode Island. They do so (illegally) right here at home, texting the local bookie.
Those habits and revenue streams need to be properly recognized and legitimized.
“I am working with our neighboring states and look forward to working with our tribal partners on a path forward to modernize gaming in our state, and working with the legislature on legalization of marijuana,” Lamont said. “Sports betting, internet gaming, legalized marijuana — they’re all happening all around us. Let’s not surrender these opportunities to out-of-state markets or, even worse, to underground markets.”
Let’s not continue to surrender these opportunities, Lamont should have said.
I’ll leave the marijuana debate for another writer in another section. I don’t care if you want to plunk down $50 on that five-team parlay through a cloud of smoke or not. I do care about Connecticut’s ability to allow residents to wager on sports — in person, and online — without taking a road trip or breaking the law.
Acting on that ability, no matter how complicated, is long overdue.
The Supreme Court opened a financial floodgate back in May 2018 by repealing the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA), freeing states to regulate sports betting.
Connecticut, at the time, was considered well-positioned to act quickly and a bill was, indeed, introduced in the late days of the Dannel Malloy administration. It went nowhere. Additional proposals under Lamont have stalled, too, as the state wrangles with how to appease everyone potentially involved, starting with the Mashantucket Pequot and Mohegan tribes.
The foot-dragging has come at a cost. Our neighbors in New Jersey and Rhode Island, to name a couple, have legal sports books and are raking in money that surely can be put to great use as the pandemic rages on and economic recovery efforts continue.
New Jersey is approaching a billion dollars a month in its sports wagering handle, the amount of money wagered. In November, $930 million was wagered on sports, according to the office of the Attorney General, and revenue was $50.6 million. That revenue is taxed by the state at rates of 8.5% (for in-person bets) and 13% (online).
Connecticut’s numbers wouldn’t match New Jersey’s. But wouldn’t even, say, a quarter of that revenue, at whatever percent the state’s take would be, amount to something meaningful?
Still, the efforts of Connecticut — a gambling state in a gambling culture, with existing infrastructure in two casinos — have stalled time and again. Everyone wants every cent. Everyone wants a bigger piece of a pie that ceases to exist without compromise.
The state has not reached an agreement to give the Mashantuckets and Mohegans exclusive sports betting rights to which the tribes feel they are entitled under a compact that grants them exclusive operation of “casino games” in exchange for 25 percent of slot revenues. The Mashantuckets and Mohegans would likely consider an agreement with outside parties to be a violation of that compact, and the state would probably be mired in litigation from there (or if it shut out all interested competitors). More time and money would be wasted.
The state could come to a revenue-sharing agreement with the tribes that would allow for other entities to operate a sports book in exchange for the kick-back of a certain percentage from the state to the tribes. Such a deal was struck in 2015 to allow for keno operations across the state, with the tribes earning 25% (12.5% each) of keno revenue.
The tribes are, and should be, in the driver’s seat. They’re ready, they employ thousands of state residents and their operations already contribute millions of dollars to the state. Maybe there is a really specific framework to consider, but we could go back and forth for another two and a half years about what percentage of the sports betting money should flow in what direction and who’s invited to the party.
We’ve done that already. For two-plus years. Middle ground and common sense must be found.
Not a penny is going to the state or to any tribe until an agreement is reached. In the meantime, local bookies and neighboring states keep getting a little richer off of our bettors.
New Jersey benefits today by New Yorkers crossing the state border to wager digitally. New York, which has legalized gambling but no mobile option, is halfway there. Gov. Andrew Cuomo, also Wednesday, announced his support for mobile sports betting. Lamont sure likes to be in stride with Cuomo, and both governors should be energetically searching for the right way to allow wagering and tax it appropriately.
Online gaming is the present and the future, accounting for bulk of wagering in New Jersey. The Mashantucket Pequots already have an agreement with DraftKings that would position the tribe to offer online options almost immediately. The Mohegans wouldn’t have any problem developing such a plan.
Agreement on basic structure has held this up for so long, and the options aren’t really changing. Every 2021 day that passes is another without a buck generated, for the tribes or the state, from a resource that could have been tapped long ago.
Sports gambling exists. It will continue to exist. It needs to exist properly. Connecticut needs to get it figured out, and up and running. The state has given up enough by not acting already.