Our state is losing chance to cash in on sports betting
M any of us who follow sports passionately, and even for those whose interests are more tepid, have bet on a sporting event. You know a guy who knows a guy who can accommodate your 10-time parlay on the Giants and Cowboys.
Know why we bet on sports? Because it's fun. Gives us a rooting interest beyond our teams and straight to the most home team of all: our wallets.
And so imagine the excitement over the Supreme Court's decision in May allowing states to adopt sports betting, thus making it legal.
Made me wonder something nonetheless. So I asked a friend who was once involved with taking such aforementioned bets if he thought that legal sports betting would cut into, say, Rocco The Claw's otherwise illegal bet-taking.
"Mikey," he said. "Please. Never happen. It's the state. They'll (mess) it up."
My friend should go to the window and collect. The state is (messing) it up. Real stunning upset there. You've heard of fake news? This is called fake legislating. Our fearless leaders, perfectly proficient in procrastination, have decided to use the age old practice of kicking the can down the road. Seems a special session of the General Assembly to kick-start sports wagering in 2018 is just too much for them to bear.
Who knew that sitting around an air conditioned room negotiating with officials from Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun would be more taxing than coal mining? Little wonder why one wiseguy once described politicians as "failed lawyers wearing ugly suits while the government pays their rent."
Gov. Malloy and other elected suits told Mark Pazniokas of the Connecticut Mirror last week that a special session would be required to make state sports wagering happen in 2018. Among the reasons:
Pazniokas: "No one disputes that Mohegan Sun and Foxwoods are permitted under the federal
Indian Regulatory Gaming Act to open sports books at their casinos if Connecticut legalizes sports betting. What is unclear, however, is whether the tribes have a claim on a share of the state's sports action or even exclusive rights to sports wagering under their gambling agreements with the state."
Moreover, there is lingering question of whether sports betting, long offered at Las Vegas casinos, is a form of casino gambling. If so, Pazniokas wrote, because the tribes have exclusive rights to all forms of casino gambling, "the state offering it would abrogate the slots deal that produces more than $250 million annually." All good questions. Here is what else we know, however: Per the Newark Star Ledger, more than $40 million of sports wagering happened in July, during New Jersey's first full month of legal sports gambling. Note the month: July. Where almost nothing besides baseball happens. Anyone care to guess the wager numbers in Jersey during football season?
And those potential revenues are what we're leaving on the table for the rest of 2018.
Because fake legislating translates into the abject laziness required to obviate meaningful conversation.
Maybe next time we see one of our legislators banging his (or her) shoe on the table over the state budget crisis, we could ask why there was no urgency to pursue sports betting revenues.
Instead, we get this guy Rep. Vincent J. Candelora, R-North Branford, a deputy House minority leader, telling the Mirror he prefers to "see an exhaustive review of the issue that is only possible during a regular legislative session." Perfect. Just like the hilarious $10 million study for tolls.
Connecticut: Where people want to give us money and we won't take it.
I know Mohegan tribal members to be reasonable, decent people. They have a sports background, having brought the Connecticut Sun here for 16 successful summers. I don't know the Foxwoods folks as well. But most, if not all, of them live here. Among us. In Connecticut. OK, so call me idealistic. But the guess here is that negotiations wouldn't be made merely in the best interests of the casinos, but their neighbors as well.
Too bad our legislators haven't the interest in this issue until they reconvene Jan. 9, losing an entire football season of betting revenue.
We expect more from our elected officials. We deserve more. And we're getting fake legislating.
That noise you hear is the can clinking and clanking its way down the boulevard.
Welcome to Connecticut. This is the opinion of Day sports columnist Mike DiMauro