Online gambling in CT to launch on Tuesday

HARTFORD — All adults age 21 and older in Connecticut can participate in online wagering starting Tuesday morning.

The state Department of Consumer Protection has cleared the full launch of online sports wagering and iCasino in Connecticut to begin at 6 a.m., Gov. Ned Lamont said Monday.

The start of online gaming follows the soft launch of in-person sports betting at Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun casinos in late September, with crowds reported during NFL games. But the state won’t get a cut of wagers placed in-person at the casinos. Under the new gaming law, sports bets placed on tribal reservations, like in-person bets on table games, aren’t taxed.

Separately, the Connecticut Lottery Corporation is setting up in-person locations for sports betting, in a partnership that includes a gaming operator and Sportech, which owns and operates off-track-betting locations around the state.

As is the case in other states where online gambling is legal, people wagering on the Connecticut sites must be physically located in Connecticut. This is accomplished through GPS fencing, in which anyone outside the state will be excluded.

The state expects to reap $30 million in the first year, eventually ramping up to an estimated $100 million a year, by taxing online sports betting at 13.75 percent, and online casino games at 18 percent, rising to 20 percent after five years.

The Connecticut Lottery Corporation, the Mohegan Tribe, and the Mashantucket Pequot Tribe may begin offering the services through their partners, some of which include

Rush Street Interactive, FanDuel and DraftKings.

The size of the cut and likely profits for the three online operators is not public.

Both tribes may also offer iCasino. DCP has also approved more than 130 games for both the FanDuel and DraftKings apps, according to a press release from Lamont’s office.

Lamont called the move exciting for both the state and tribal partners.