Legal forms of

gambling Gambling (also known as betting or gaming) is the wagering of something of value ("the stakes") on a random event with the intent of winning something else of value, where instances of strategy are discounted. Gambling thus requires three el ...

in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sover ...

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...

include two

Indian casinos Native American gaming comprises casinos, bingo halls, and other gambling operations on Indian reservations or other tribal lands in the United States. Because these areas have tribal sovereignty, states have limited ability to forbid gambling th ...

(

Foxwoods Foxwoods Resort Casino is a hotel and casino complex owned and operated by the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation on their reservation located in Ledyard, Connecticut. Including six casinos, the resort covers an area of . The casinos have more t ...

and

Mohegan Sun Mohegan Sun is an American casino, owned and operated by the Mohegan Tribe on of their reservation, along the banks of the Thames River in Uncasville, Connecticut. It has of gambling space. It is in the foothills of southeastern Connecticut, ...

parimutuel wagering Parimutuel betting or pool betting is a betting system in which all bets of a particular type are placed together in a pool; taxes and the "house-take" or "vigorish" are deducted, and payoff odds are calculated by sharing the pool among all winnin ...

, charitable gaming, the

Connecticut Lottery The Connecticut Lottery Corporation, also called the CT Lottery, is the official lottery in Connecticut. It was created in 1971 by then-Gov. Thomas Meskill, who signed Public Act No. 865. The first tickets were sold on February 15, 1972. The Conne ...

, and

sports betting Sports betting is the activity of predicting sports results and placing a wager on the outcome. The frequency of sports bet upon varies by culture, with the vast majority of bets being placed on association football, American football, basket ...

Casinos

Connecticut has two

Foxwoods Resort Casino Foxwoods Resort Casino is a hotel and casino complex owned and operated by the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation on their reservation located in Ledyard, Connecticut. Including six casinos, the resort covers an area of . The casinos have more t ...

in Ledyard and

Uncasville Uncasville is an area in the town of Montville, Connecticut, United States. It is a village in southeastern Montville, at the mouth of the Oxoboxo River where it flows into the Thames River. The name is now applied more generally to all of the ...

. They are operated on tribal lands under the federal

Indian Gaming Regulatory Act The Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (, ''et seq.'') is a 1988 United States federal law that establishes the jurisdictional framework that governs Indian gaming. There was no federal gaming structure before this act. The stated purposes of the act ...

by the state's two

federally recognized tribes This is a list of federally recognized tribes in the contiguous United States of America. There are also federally recognized Alaska Native tribes. , 574 Indian tribes were legally recognized by the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) of the United ...

, the Mashantucket Pequot Tribe and the Mohegan Tribe, respectively. A third casino, to be jointly owned by the two tribes, is planned in East Windsor, Connecticut, East Windsor, but has been held up by legal proceedings. The tribes pay 25 percent of their slot machine revenue to the state, in exchange for the state maintaining its prohibition on the machines outside of the two casinos. As of the 2016-17 fiscal year, the two casinos had a total annual slot handle of $13.2 billion, with winnings of $1.1 billion. Tribal gaming began in 1986 with the opening of a high-stakes bingo parlor on the Mashantucket Pequot reservation, after a court ruled that state bingo regulations did not apply on the tribe's sovereign land. The operation expanded to include Casino game#Table games, table games in 1992, and slot machines in 1993. The Mohegan Tribe, having gained federal recognition in 1992, opened its casino in 1996.

Parimutuel wagering

Parimutuel wagering on horse racing, greyhound racing, and jai alai is offered at sixteen off-track betting (OTB) parlors around the state operated by Sportech, and also at the two tribal casinos. The Sportech operation had a total annual handle of $168 million as of 2015, with $125 million paid out for winning bets. Two greyhound tracks and three jai alai frontons have previously operated in Connecticut. Horse racing and off-track betting were legalized in 1971. Jai alai and dog racing were added the following year. A horse track named Connecticut Park was proposed to be built in Wolcott, Connecticut, Wolcott, but was canceled in the late 1970s after failing to gain state approvals. The state's OTB operation opened for business in 1976. Jai alai frontons opened in Hartford, Connecticut, Hartford and Bridgeport, Connecticut, Bridgeport in 1976, and in Milford, Connecticut, Milford in 1977. The Bridgeport and Hartford frontons closed in 1995, and the Milford fronton followed in 2001. Plainfield Greyhound Park operated from 1976 to 2005 in Plainfield, Connecticut, Plainfield; Shoreline Star Greyhound Park opened at the former jai alai fronton in Bridgeport in 1996, and closed in 2005.

Charitable gaming

Eligible non-profit organizations are permitted to conduct several games of chance for fundraising purposes, including Bingo (U.S.), bingo, raffles, carnival games (referred to as bazaars) and pull-tabs (referred to as sealed tickets). As of 2015, charitable games in the state had total gross annual revenues of $32.7 million, with the organizations making a profit of $10.6 million. The law allowing charitable bingo was enacted in 1939. It was expanded to allow bazaars and raffles in 1955, and sealed tickets in 1987. Las Vegas nights, featuring casino games like blackjack and roulette, were legalized in 1972, but this was repealed in 2003 in an effort to block the opening of more tribal casinos in the state.

Lottery

The

offers scratchcard games and draw games, including the multi-state Powerball and Mega Millions games. As of 2015, the lottery had annual gross sales of $1.1 billion, with $707 million paid out as prizes. The legislature authorized the lottery in 1971, as part of the same bill that legalized parimutuel wagering. Lottery sales began in 1972.

Sports betting

Sports betting was legalized in the state in 2021, to be conducted by the two tribal casinos and the Connecticut Lottery. Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun offer betting online and at their casinos, in partnership with DraftKings and FanDuel, respectively. The lottery, in partnership with Rush Street Interactive, offers online betting, and offers sportsbooks at several of the Sportech OTB venues.

References

{{Lists of casinos by U.S. state Connecticut law Gambling in the United States, Connecticut