The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Chicago company wins sports gambling contract
In the scramble to get sports wagering up and running in the early weeks of the football season, a Chicago-based firm was selected Thursday to initiate Connecticut’s new sportswagering landscape at locations outside the two Native American casinos.
Rush Street Interactive (RSI) was announced as the winning bidder, ending months of negotiations and speculation on the future of Connecticut’s sports and online casino gambling and lottery, which has been the focus of long-simmering, sometimes emotional talks among the lottery, the tribal casinos and Gov. Ned Lamont. Its PlaySugarhouse subsidiary operates in New Jersey and New York.
The 10-year deal includes at least $170 million for the state, said Rob Simmelkjaer, chairman of the board of the Connecticut Lottery Corp., who announced the deal is a news conference after a closed-door meeting.
“We chose RSI for a number of reasons, first of all from the purely financial point of view, we graded and perceived their offer to be the best offer,” Simmelkjaer told reporters. “Both in terms of the revenue guarantee, but also the revenue share. I was public in my desire for us to receive at least 50 percent of net gaming revenue and their offer did achieve that for us.”
Simmeljaer said officials hope that sports wagering
over the phone and in person will start up early in the coming football season. However, the target to start the online lottery and casino games are unlikely to start until the first quarter of 2022.
Rush Street will use at least 10 of the 11 existing brick-and-mortar off-trackbetting locations run by Sportech, which will take a percentage of the total sports-wagering handle.
The locations include venues in Hartford, Waterbury, Torrington, New Britain, Milford, Norwalk and Manchester, along with Sports Haven in New Haven and two Bobby V’s restaurants in Stamford and in Windsor Locks, near Bradley International Airport. Shoreline Star, Sportech’s pari-mutuel facility in Bridgeport, is not included in the sports-betting deal, but a Bridgeport location
would be opened eventually as part of the state’s plan to have a total of 15 brick-andmortar sports books.
Sports betting, both in person and over the telephone, is estimated to raise $19.3 million in state revenue during the budget year that started July 1. It is expected to escalate to $25 million a year by June 30, 2026, according to the General Assembly’s nonpartisan Office of Fiscal Analysis.
Separately, the state regulations on gaming are under review and must be approved; the U.S. Department of the Interior must approve the changes on the tribal casinos; and the state Department of Consumer Protection must issue licenses to all businesses involved in expanded gambling. Last month, federal officials were given the proposal for review, and have 45 days to act.
“The CLC has been engaged with these two highly qualified and accomplished companies for a few months now,” said Greg Smith, president and CEO of the lottery. The revenue arrangement includes sharing net gaming revenue, minus customer winnings, expenses, marketing and bonuses paid out.
The two tribal casinos will also run sports books at Foxwoods Resort and Casino, as well as Mohegan Sun. None of the other brick-andmortar locations can be within 25 miles of the two casinos. Simmeljaer noted that the lottery has voiced interest in possibly locating in the XL Center arena in downtown Hartford.
“We’re content that we’ve done a good deal for the state, Sportech and our customers,” said Ted Taylor, president of Sportech Venues. In an interview, Taylor said that the date sports wagering starts hinges on the purchase and arrival of equipment. “This is an opportunity to use our regulated license to do more of what we do,” he said. “We’re delighted to reach an agreement that works for all parties.”
Sportech officials this spring had complained about being shut out of the selection process, and had threatened legal action, which was dropped in the run-up to Thursday’s final agreement.