(Updated 10 a.m.) Starting at 3 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 12 hundreds of Connecticut residents will be able to use their phones or computers to place a bet with one of three vendors.
Tuesday will start the seven-day soft launch period for online gambling.
“We appreciate the hard work of our licensees and their teams, as well as the team at DCP, for their diligence in ensuring these platforms are compliant with the regulations approved by the legislature,” Department of Consumer Protection Commissioner Michelle H. Seagull. “As long as no issues arise, we have told the licensees they may move forward with the 7-day soft launch required in the regulations. Once the soft launch is complete, online gaming will open statewide.”
However, the soft launch will be limited to 750 patrons for the Connecticut Lottery and each of the two tribes, which opened up sports betting at their casinos last week.
There will be sports betting and over 100 casino games offered by the Mashantucket Pequots and the Mohegan Tribe through their vendors, DraftKings and FanDuel, to a limited number of patrons. Rush Street Interactive and their PlaySugarHouse.com brand is the vendor for the Connecticut Lottery.
“The Mohegan Tribe is thankful to Governor Lamont and the Department of Consumer Protection for their cooperative efforts to reach this point, as together we finally make online gaming and sport wagering a reality in Connecticut,” Mohegan Chairman James Gessner Jr. said. “Doing so will allow us to not only offer these new products to state residents, it will in turn help protect Connecticut jobs and generate additional tax revenues to the benefit of state and local municipal budgets, as well as our tribe’s members. We’re excited to take this step, and we look forward to a full launch in the days ahead.”
The Mashantucket Pequots agreed.
“After more than a decade of advocacy and negotiation, statewide sports betting and igaming is finally coming to Connecticut,” Rodney Butler, chairman of the Mashantucket Pequots, said. “This has been a remarkable implementation schedule, from legislative approval in the spring to retail and online gaming this fall.”
For the two casinos, Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun, the soft launch will not include live dealer or peer-to-peer online casino games.
They will also only be allowed to operate on a limited basis for the first two days. Gambling will be allowed 3 to 11 p.m. on Tuesday, and 12 p.m. to 11:59 p.m. on Thursday and Friday. The rest of the seven day launch period will be 24 hours.