NY Bets with Their Feet: CT Strong Start Driven by Heavy Volumes of New Yorkers Heading East

The first look at data for Connecticut’s online sports betting and casino market shows not only a strong start, but also evidence that there is a definite appetite for legal, regulated betting options in the region, particularly from New York.

With New York’s roll out of sports betting likely coming in Q1 2022, New York bettors must still seek out other options for safe, regulated play. Up until this month, the closest option was to head to New Jersey, but that’s now changed with the full launch of Connecticut.

Since the initial soft launch, there have been over 1.2 million transactions, most of which have taken place after the full launch on October 19. With a population of just over 3.5 million, Connecticut has quickly ranked itself as 9th in terms of overall online sports betting and casino traffic, already having surpassed Colorado with a larger population of 5.7 million.

​​“We’ve learned from the New Jersey experience that New Yorkers are clearly motivated to travel locally to bet on sites where proper consumer protections have been put in place that safeguard the integrity of their wager,” stated Chad Kornett, VP Global Government Relations at GeoComply.  “Connecticut looks to be quickly following a similar pattern: Easily accessed from the New York City area, GeoComply’s data shows 38% of Connecticut’s wagering activity has originated from the southwestern corner of the state along the I-95 corridor.”  Heavy volumes have been concentrated in Stamford and Bridgeport, and other highway entry points stretching north along the New York border have also been hotspots.

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While the demand for regulated online gaming options is clearly drawing people to Connecticut this month, it will be interesting to see how these trends shift once New York rolls out its regulated sports betting market in the coming months.