- Connecticut legalized sports betting in October.
- The first week of sports betting saw 1.2 million transactions.
- This high transaction number was driven by bettors from New York City.
HARTFORD, Conn. - Connecticut opened online sportsbooks in October, but the state is already one of the top betting destinations in the nation.
There were 1.2 million gambling transactions in the first week of state-regulated gambling in Connecticut, per the Hartford Courant. These 1.2 million sports betting transactions made Connecticut the ninth most utilized sports betting state in the USA.
The data that demonstrated this level of interest was collected by GeoComply Solutions Inc., which claimed that the major driver of CT sports betting was bettors from New York.
Chad Kornett, VP of Global Government Relations at GeoComply, compared the Connecticut betting data to New Jersey betting data, and believes there is a similar pattern.
“We’ve learned from the New Jersey experience that New Yorkers are clearly motivated to travel locally to bet on sites where proper consumer protections have been put in place that safeguard the integrity of their wager,” said Kornett. “Connecticut looks to be quickly following a similar pattern: Easily accessed from the New York City area.”
In other words, this could be a temporary online gambling boom driven entirely by New York’s sports bettors crossing the border to Connecticut to access state-regulated sports betting.
New York Sports Betting Still Months Away
New York has legalized sports betting, although they are still in the process of setting up the infrastructure for it.
According to the New York Post, the available operators are expected to be named by the end of the week.
New York’s sports betting launch is planned to take place before the Super Bowl, and New York Senator Joseph Addabbo, chairman of the Racing, Wagering and Gaming Committee, says that the process is on schedule.
“They are on schedule,” Addabbo said. “I give the gaming commission credit for staying on track given the change in governors.”
The Super Bowl will take place on Feb. 13, 2021, which means Connecticut might only have three months of betting dominance left. Luckily for their revenues, those three months encompass the remainder of the NFL season and most of the playoffs.
Any delay in New York’s setup schedule could result in a windfall for Connecticut as NY’s bettors flock for Super Bowl gambling.