Second Connecticut tribe backs legalised online gambling

The Mohegan tribe, which owns the Mohegan Sun land gambling resort, has come out in support of Connecticut’s other major casino owner, the Mashantucket Pequot in calling for the legalisation of sports betting and online gambling in the state.

Our readers will recall the strong supportive statements for legalisation made last week by Seth Young of the Mashantucket Pequot’s Foxwood resort; these have been echoed by Mohegan Sun executive Avi Alroy, who told members of the Public Safety and Security Committee that the state could benefit.

“To clarify, I believe that the state of Connecticut will benefit from both online casino gaming and sport wagering as it will reduce unregulated bets that are done locally and off-shore, and increase state revenues,” Alroy said in a written submission which urged lawmakers to move quickly in order to secure first-mover advantage.

“We also have an opportunity here to act fast and be one of the first states to allow sport wagering outside of Nevada,” he said. “We certainly do not want to be one of the last states to do so. Massachusetts is discussing a sports wagering bill publically and New York State already introduced a bill this Tuesday. Pennsylvania also included online gaming and sports wagering in their latest casino expansion bill a few months ago.”

Alroy’s financial estimates on the benefits of regulated and licensed online gambling closely match those of Young’s, predicting (subject to a pragmatic tax rate and legalisation of online casino games and poker) around $87 million in tax revenue to the state over its first five years.

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