Tuesday, 19th October 2021, the first day that online sports wagering and casino games were made available to all eligible adults within Connecticut, saw thousands of virtual bets being placed.
According to Rodney Butler, the Chairman of the Mashantucket Pequot Trible Nation, the owners of Foxwoods Resort Casino, it was ‘nothing short of historic’ for the state and the tribe, which received its federal recognition 30 years ago this week and has been seeking to expand into online gambling for almost a decade as competition for casino patrons has ramped up throughout the Northeast.
During a virtual news conference, Butler told reporters that it really expands the ecosystem of gaming and that the combination of in person and online just extends that experience.
He went on to say that the first wager was placed on the Los Angeles Dodgers defeating the Atlanta Braves, followed by thousands of other fans who placed bets on a variety of games.
Apart from Foxwoods, which has partnered with DraftKings, online sports betting was fully launched by the Mohegan Tribe, owners of Mohegan Sun Casino and its partner FanDuel, and the Connecticut Lottery Corp. and its partner Rush Street Interactive. Only the two tribes are permitted to offer online casino games.
Tuesday’s full rollout follows a seven-day limited ‘soft-launch’ that saw Connecticut become the seventh state to offer online betting on casino games that range from a number of forms of blackjack to video poker and roulette. In excess of two dozen states now legalize sports betting, while many only allow in person bets.