Governor of Connecticut, Dannel Malloy, said yesterday he believes it is inevitable online gambling will come to the state after the U.S. Justice Department issued an opinion in December that in-state internet gambling does not violate federal law.
In a report by CBS Money Watch, Malloy told journalists that his administration is investigating what can be done to protect jobs associated with Connecticut’s two tribal casinos. “The Internet is the Internet. You don’t turn off the Internet at any state’s borders,” he said. “It’s an impossibility.”
He also made reporters aware that his office is looking at other issues stemming from the potential arrival of iGaming, such as whether to allow the state’s casinos or the state lottery to handle any potential online gambling operations. He added: “If it moves forward, and it’s clearly going to move forward, it’s going to be available in Connecticut. Now we have to decide, in the state of Connecticut, what is our approach to that.”
However, Senate Minority Leader John McKinney, who’s all against internet gambling, doesn’t agree. He made his opinions clear, telling Malloy he believes there’s still a chance Congress could fight the legalisation of online wagering in Connecticut, and that there are ways the state can restrict it. He said: “I think the governor wants everybody to believe there’s nothing we can do about it and therefore he wants to gain revenue from it. That’s not right.”
In his retort Malloy cleverly said he is “not the one” bringing online gambling to Connecticut.
“It’s a national decision that has largely already been made. So the question is, what do you do to defend the tens of thousands of jobs directly and indirectly tied to those two [tribal casinos] and I think that’s a legitimate question and that’s one of the things that we’re considering,” he said.
McKinney added he deems the operators of Foxwoods Resort Casino and the Mohegan Sun are “very profitable, very successful.”I think they’re certainly more than capable of taking care of themselves,” he said.
Whose side are you on?
