Sports betting could boost downtown
Renovated XL Center a candidate for new gambling venue
HARTFORD — A plan to bring online gambling to Connecticut could boost redevelopment efforts in downtown Hartford with the XL Center as a possible venue for a large sports betting venue.
In Hartford, a renovated XL Center is being mentioned as a potential location for one of two larger sports betting venues in Hartford and Bridgeport under an agreement unveiled by Gov. Ned Lamont and the Mohegan Tribe, operators of Mohegan Sun. The deal still awaits approval by the Mashantucket Pequots, whooperate Foxwoods Resort Casino. The plan also requires approval from the General Assembly.
“The point is that to the extent there are alternatives for sports gaming or sports book off the reservations, it will be limited, so the thought process for Hartford and Bridgeport is that those become destinations,” Hartford Democrat Matt Ritter, speaker of the state House of Representatives, said. “For Hartford, in particular, because we have a lot of athletics there — UConn, hockey, other activities — it’s a good combination. There is some synergy there.”
Options range from a “sports book” — an entertainment area where televised sporting events can be watched and wagers made — to newer, emerging venues such as “eSports” or “eGaming” in which teams of players compete in a theater-like space. The latter is seen as attracting a younger audience, which is less interested in playing the slots or table games.
Ritter said he sees a betting venue as expanding entertainment options alongside the arts, music, sports, dining and other events that draws visitors in a city the size of Hartford in the 21st century, the way shopping once did before the advent of suburban malls.
“If you have to drive an hour to an NFLSunday or you can drive downtown and you live in Hartford
or West Hartford, you’re probably going to drive to downtown Hartford, I would think,” Ritter said.
It wouldn’t be the first time the XL Center has been mentioned as a possible location for expanded legalized gambling. As far back as the early 1990s, gambling has been pitched as an engine for revival in downtown Hartford.
In2017, Hartford surfaced as a potential site for smaller casino operations, the XL Center amongpossible locations. The Hartford casino would have been part of an expansion by a joint venture of the state’s two federally recognized tribes andcasino operators, theMohegansand the Mashantucket Pequots.
The expansion came in the face of competition from MGM Resort International’s casino in Springfield, which opened in 2018.
The tribal partnership, MMCT Venture, ultimately chose just one site for a $300 million gambling venue, in East Windsor. That plan was temporarily shelved as the COVID-19 pandemic battered the casino business andthere wasapushbyGov. Ned La mont to solve broader sports betting and gambling issues. Other neighboring states have already done so, leaving Connecticut to play catch-up.
Michael W. Freimuth, executive director of the Capital Region Development Authority, which oversees the operations of the XL Center arena, said CRDA has been monitoring the debate over the expansion of legalized gambling — and the quasi-public agency had already incorporated some sort of gaming venue into planning for the $100 million, state-taxpayer backed renovation now underway.
“We could certainly accommodate that,” Freimuth said. “We have the physical space to do that, and we’re building in the fiber optics and the like.”
The shape of the venue, who would pay for it and how much revenue it might generate are unclear, Freimuth said.
Ritter said the sports wagering venue doesn’t necessarily have to be in the XLCenter, “but it could be.” Certainly, the venue should be in close proximity to the arena, he said.
Downtown Hartford has an abundance of empty retail space, including at the XL Center along Trumbull Street; at the corner of Trumbull and Pearl streets in new apartment buildings; and, in the future, at the Downtown North development, a block or so to the northeast, where entertainment has been mentioned as a component.
Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin said a betting venue could be a plus for a renovated XL Center.
“It’s easy to imagine how a retail sports betting venue that is part of a larger dining and entertainment venue could be a great component of a renovated XL Center,” Bronin said.
The gambling expansion would allow the tribes and the Connecticut Lottery to operate their own sports wagering and online gambling operations, with tax revenue going to the state. The deal also calls for the lottery to operate 15 sports betting parlors around the state. All gambling could be accessed from a cellphone.
There are still hurdles to overcome in expanding gambling in Connecticut, however. Lamont has reached an agreement with the Mohegans, operators of Mohegan Sun, that would alter its slot machine-revenue sharing “compact” with the state, dating to the 1990s. A similar agreement still must be reached with the Mashantuckets, who run Fox woods Resort and Casino.
State lawmakers also would need to approve legislation making the change.
Ritter said some portion of the revenues derived from a betting venue in downtown Hartford could be used to help finance the borrowing — through state-issued bonds — that will pay for the XL Center renovations, a view Ritter has long advocated.