Completing the final steps

Connecticut and Louisiana are the latest states to join the US’s booming legal sports wagering market. Lawmakers in both jurisdictions legalized the activity earlier this year, and now casino operators and officials are adding the finishing touches to those new markets.

Connecticut residents shouldn’t have to wait long for access to legal online wagering. The state Department of Consumer Protection (DCP) has approved for a soft launch of online sports betting and iGaming to take place on Tuesday this week. The Mohegan Tribe and Mashantucket Pequot Tribal nation already launched retail wagering earlier this month.

Tunica-Biloxi Tribe of Louisiana kickstarted the state’s legal betting market

Meanwhile, the Tunica-Biloxi Tribe of Louisiana kickstarted the state’s legal betting market by launching its offering last Wednesday. Now, the jurisdiction’s commercial casinos are hoping to join in on the action, 13 of which have already applied for sports betting licenses. 

Connecticut gets its start date

If everything had gone according to plan, Connecticut residents would already have access to online sports betting. State officials initially scheduled the launch date for last Thursday, but a 12-day delay to the publishing of a compact caused them to push back the time frame. Now, a seven-day soft launch will begin at 3pm local time this Tuesday.

The DCP has made clear the stringent rules of the soft launch. Gamblers will only have acces to online sports betting and casino gaming between the hours of 3pm to 11pm until Thursday, when it will expand to 12 hours a day. Starting Saturday, it will increase to 24 hours a day.

For sports betting, the Mohegan Tribe has inked a deal with FanDuel, while the Mashantucket Pequot has teamed up with DraftKings. The Connecticut lottery can also operate 15 retail betting locations, in addition to having one online gaming skin. It has partnered with Rush Street Interactive for its own offering.

Commercial casinos wait in Louisiana

Much like Connecticut, Louisiana has also experienced a delay to the launch of its sports betting market. The jurisdiction missed out on launching in time for the beginning of the NFL season because of the effects of Hurricane Ida. This caused a ten-day delay as officials handling the licensing process had to take care of storm rescue and recovery instead.

13 of the state’s 20 commercial casinos have registered

Although tribal betting is now already underway, officials have not provided an exact launch date for commercial wagering in Louisiana. Just 13 of the state’s 20 commercial casinos have registered for licenses so far, but officials expect the remaining seven to apply before the January 1 deadline.

In contrast to retail, online wagering won’t get the green light for months, according to Louisiana Gaming Commission Chair Ronnie Johns. Speaking with the Daily Advertiser this week, Johns said: “Mobile takes longer because the casinos use outside vendors to do that work, and those vendors haven’t been licensed yet, so they have to go through the suitability process and background checks.”