Connecticut Lottery follows new script
If you were going to set an HBO Max series at a Connecticut agency, the only real game in town is the Connecticut Lottery Corp. Not only does it offer gambling, but as a quasi-public agency, it doesn’t have to follow many of the stodgy regulations of its siblings. It has a backstory of scandals and offers the potentially tense drama of negotiations with tribes.
Any decent comedy-drama, of course, is driven by the pursuit of the dollar. During the fiscal year ending June 30, the CT Lottery pulled in sales of $1.3 billion.
On the eve of turning 50, the lottery’s plot thickens with the prospect of adding sports and online betting. More talks with the tribes, more cash, more controversies.
This latest moves are also designed to lure a younger demographic. The days of betting on scratch tickets at bodegas and gas-and-sips is fading. The real coin comes from transforming phones into pocket casinos.
The show has a new star. Gov. Ned Lamont was casting director, recruiting Rob Simmelkjaer as the lottery’s board chairman.
Simmelkjaer is a former executive with ESPN and NBC Sports. It could be seen as ideal casting given the potential move to sports betting. It’s another reminder that the fragile integrity of sports must not be compromised by playing to vices simply to bolster the state’s coffers.
The new chair has the advantage of joining this saga while everyone is distracted by the pandemic. It should make it easier to negotiate with the state’s two federally recognized tribes, the Mashantucket Pequots and Mohegans, which maintain that sports betting is a casino game, and thus belongs to them.
“We’re very confident that there is a deal, an agreement to be reached, one within reach with the tribal leaders and one that will hopefully include Lottery,” Simmelkjaer told the Connecticut Mirror. “We believe that that’s the path that makes the most sense for the state of Connecticut, for the taxpayers of Connecticut.”
Read that quote over a few times. It has more conditions than the fine print on a scratch-off card. But it gets to the point that Connecticut is going to work hard to get its cut of sports betting to help shovel out of debt.
These two initiatives — sports betting and online gambling — are necessary if Connecticut wants to stay in the game. The games do help the state ($370 million in 2019), but residents lose more than they win (surprise) and can develop addictions. It’s up to legislators to ensure the best safeguards are in place to ensure amateur gamblers don’t fall prey to their own impulses, and athletes in vulnerable sports aren’t lured to cheat.
While a television sports resume doesn’t scream “watchdog,” Simmelkjaer deserves a chance to demonstrate he can reform and regulate the troubled agency.
It’s a storyline we’ll keep an eye on. The members of the General Assembly need to tune in as well.
On the eve of turning 50, the lottery’s plot thickens with the prospect of adding sports and online betting. More talks with the tribes, more cash, more controversies.