Connecticut Regulations Review Committee Approves Sports Betting Regulations

• Tuesday, CT Regulations Review Committee Met Online, Ratified Gambling Rules
• Despite ‘Payment Method’ Sticking Point, Regulations Now in Effect For 180 Days
• Next Hurdle for CT Sports Betting: Federal Bureau of Indian Affairs Thumbs Up

Tuesday, CT Regulations Review Committee Met Online, Ratified Gambling Rules

On Tuesday, the Connecticut Regulations Review Committee met online at 11:00 am and approved a final list of sports betting regulations, allowing the state to move one step closer to legal sports gambling.

The committee, made up of seven Democrats and seven Republicans, approved the set of rules that will establish how gaming and retail sports betting will operate in the Nutmeg State, who can participate, as well as outlining the upcoming licensing process.

The hope is to have Connecticut’s sports betting operation up and running in time to take advantage of the NFL’s 2021 regular season which starts on September 9, a rush job that could have “unintended consequences” according to state Representative David Rutigliano.

There were plenty of factors up for debate before and during Tuesday’s meeting, including one obstacle that involves how bettors would pay for their wagers.

Despite ‘Payment Method’ Sticking Point, Regulations Now in Effect For 180 Days

Whenever Connecticut gamblers place a sports bet, it has to be decided how that money will be collected, and this has become a sticking point for some lawmakers for several reasons.

The first is the fact that Connecticut’s regulations don’t allow for the use of electronic payment methods like PayPal and Venmo, practices that the state’s tribes and potential vendors have supported to make life easier for bettors.

State Senator Cathy Osten, the main sponsor of the gaming legislation and a part of the legislative Regulations Review Committee, has already stated her support of these more modern methods of payment.

Other states allow that carte blanche because that’s the new way of people paying for things. I think we should use whatever is easiest for the consumer to pay.

The other point of debate was the fact that the rules allow for joint bank accounts to be used for gaming payments, something that some lawmakers felt could be tricky since it could lead to one person on the account gambling without the other’s consent.

Regardless of these objections, the rules were approved and are now in effect for 180 days.

Next Hurdle for CT Sports Betting: Federal Bureau of Indian Affairs Thumbs Up

Next up in the process of legalizing sports gambling in Connecticut involves the Federal Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), the US agency within the Department of the Interior that is responsible for implementing federal laws and policies related to American Indians.

For sports betting to exist in Connecticut, the BIA must now sign off on a memorandum of understanding between the state and the Mashantucket Pequot and Mohegan tribes allowing for the expansion of gaming.

This becomes a tricky approval since sports betting is such a new and different operation to consider compared with the more familiar retail and best online casinos that already exist in Connecticut.

But when Governor Ned Lamont signed the sports betting bill back in June, he made it clear that the goal was to get operations launched by the NFL season, so keep checking back for updates as Connecticut inches its way towards legal sports gambling.