Casinos in Connecticut
Casinos in Connecticut are centered around the three New London County land-based casinos, which include the Foxwoods Resort Casino, the Mohegan Sun, and the MGM Grand at Foxwoods. The available games include modern slot machines, table games, video poker machines, and more.
Furthermore, Connecticut has regulated horse and greyhound racing, as well as a state-operated lottery. It’s worth pointing out that while the state officials don’t seem interested in cracking down on individual players, they are very strict when dealing with illegal gambling operators. Consequently, the number of online options available to Connecticut-based casino enthusiasts is fairly limited.
Connecticut Gambling Laws
Unlike most of the other states, Connecticut has a very broad definition of gambling which doesn’t differentiate between games of skill and games of chance. Gambling is simply defined as any activity that involves betting. This alone would be enough for Connecticut officials to argue that online casino gaming is illegal within the borders of the state, but it’s also worth pointing out that the Connecticut General Statutes Sec. 53-278d prohibit transmission of any gambling-related information:
“Any person who knowingly transmits or receives gambling information by telephone, telegraph, radio, semaphore or other means, or knowingly installs or maintains equipment for the transmission or receipt of gambling information, shall be guilty of a class A misdemeanor.”
Furthermore, you should keep in mind that Sec. 52-553/554 allows Connecticut residents to recover any losses that result from unlicensed gambling via civil action and declares all the relevant wagering contracts to be completely void.
Online Casinos
As you’ve probably already guessed, it’s impossible for a Connecticut resident to play at a regulated online casinos in USA, similar to the ones that are available in Nevada and New Jersey. However, many offshore casinos like Bovada accept Connecticut players despite the status of online gambling in the Constitution State. Those casinos get plenty of traffic from all over the world, so it should come as no surprise that the bonuses they offer are more generous than in the case of most intrastate gambling sites.
Offshore Casino Sites That Accept Connecticut Players
Most of the Connecticut-friendly offshore casinos are powered by Real Time Gaming software, but it is worth pointing out that some of them also offer games that have been designed by BetSoft or other companies. All the casinos listed here are 100% safe to play on and have been confirmed to accept new deposits from Connecticut players.
While playing at an offshore casino isn’t that hard if you live in Connecticut, there’s no denying the fact that actually funding your account may get troublesome due to the limited number of deposit methods supported by those sites. In most cases, your best bet is to make a deposit using your credit card. However, not all of the available cards are going to work. In fact, if your card hasn’t been cleared for international transactions, your payment is almost guaranteed to be blocked – and while you won’t lose any money because of that, you won’t be able to join the real money action either.
Some people prefer to circumvent this problem by depositing via a Western Union or MoneyGram money order. This payment method is available on the largest sites, such as Bovada. In fact, if you deposit via a money order, you might be even allowed to cash out using this method instead of the traditional bank wire transfer or check by courier.
Developing Legal Scenarios
Connecticut is one of the states that are expected to start working towards an online gambling bill this year due to the fact that local gambling businesses are getting anxious about being able to offer online versions of their products. However, Connecticut legislators haven’t proposed such a bill yet, which means that the actual launch of a Connecticut intrastate online casino market is very likely to take more than just a few months.
