Connecticut governor, tribes dig in for sports betting fight

Connecticut’s sports betting hopes appear no closer to the finish line as the state’s governor repeated his opposition to a tribal-only betting bill.

On Tuesday, Gov. Ned Lamont’s office issued a statement emphasizing that the guv “wants to sign a sports betting bill into law over the next few months.” Trouble is, the bill Lamont wants to sign isn’t the one that has the support of the state’s two tribal gaming operators.

In January, State Sen. Cathy Osten introduced legislation that would give the Mashantucket Pequot and Mohegan tribes the sole right to offer sports betting and online gambling within the state, along with a few other freebies such as a new casino in Bridgeport, full support for the tribes’ stalled joint venture casino in East Windsor and some smaller satellite venues. The state lottery would get to sell tickets online along with ‘iKeno’.

A separate bill followed that focused purely on wagering but would open up the list of possible licensees to include off-track betting operator Sportech and the state lottery. State Rep. Joe Verrengia said the idea was to streamline the legislative process to a single gaming vertical in the hopes of pushing it through before the current session ends in June.