According to a study, 67.8% Connecticut residents think that the gambling options available in their state are “fine”. HTML_
According to the Connecticut Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services’ study, 93.5% of respondents rated gambling as “not important” or “not really” in their state.
More than two thirds (67.2%) of over 5,000 respondents believe that the risks of gambling outweigh the benefits. In Connecticut, however, the majority of residents (69.2%) cited addiction as the greatest risk.
However, 70.8% of respondents believe that the gamblers are responsible for minimizing gambling harms, and 68.7% do not have an opinion on the fairness and integrity of the gambling offered in Connecticut. Only 17.3% of Connecticut residents are not satisfied with Connecticut’s abilities to minimize gambling harms.
Legalised gambling has been a positive for many reasons. Employment and government revenue increased by 20,1% and 21,6% respectively. The benefits of financial support and jobs for the tribes were also mentioned (12.7%), as was the ability of Connecticut to keep money it would have otherwise lost.
Only 1.8% of the respondents were classified as problem gamblers, which is equivalent to approximately 50 000 adults in a state with over 3.6 millions residents. 4,9% of those surveyed were deemed at risk, and 62.6% as recreational gambling.
Connecticut’s success in igaming
Connecticut stands out as being one of only seven US States to have legalised online gaming. Connecticut launched its sports betting market and igaming in October 2021.
Connecticut consistently broke gambling revenue records in 2023. The iDEA Association (iDevelopment and Economic Association) has commissioned a new report that shows online casinos have a positive effect on the land-based casino industry.
The report states that Connecticut’s market for land-based gambling was declining year over year until the launch of online casinos. The state’s gross gaming revenues (GGR) increased by 0.34% after the online casino was launched.
Connecticut was chosen as one of the six states for this study. Pennsylvania had the smallest increase in GGR from land-based gaming after igaming was launched, at 0.14%. Michigan’s land-based GGR jumped by an impressive 4.89%. This study discredited the idea that online gaming cannibalizes land-based casino revenues.
