Connecticut Gambling Laws

Not everyone knows it, but under federal law, gambling is generally not illegal (with some major caveats, of course). As a result, states have taken it upon themselves to regulate the gaming industry. This has resulted in each of the fifty states having gambling laws that make various forms of gambling either explicitly legal or illegal. The most common forms of gambling in the United States include horse racing, tribal casinos, commercial gambling, charitable gambling, and the state lottery.

In Connecticut, “gambling” is defined as risking something of value for gain contingent on chance. When it comes to permitted forms of gambling, Connecticut allows licensed horse-racing, licensed dog-racing, jai alai and the state lottery. Charitable organizations' gambling and social gambling are also permitted.

Connecticut law allows the large Indian casinos run by the Pequot and Mohegan tribes. These tribal casinos in Connecticut are hugely popular. So much so, in fact, that neighboring Massachusetts recently legalized the opening of three casinos (commercial and/or tribal depending on who wins the bids for the licenses).

Indeed, America's biggest casino isn't on the Las Vegas Strip or Atlantic City Boardwalk. Opened in 1986 in western Connecticut, Foxwoods Casino has long been the reigning largest casino in the United States. A complex of six casinos with 17 different types of table games, it was recently surpassed as the largest in 2009 by the WinStar World Casino in Oklahoma.