“This is your captain speaking, please fasten your seatbelts and take the Bills -6.”
Despite a Connecticut legislative proposal that wants passengers to be able to take that sports betting advice and wager on their flight, a bill filed in the state’s House to legalize it isn’t expected to get off the ground.
HB 6051 proposes to “authorize and provide for the regulation of in-flight sports wagering” betting as long as the flight originates or lands in Connecticut. However, that state law would not be allowed because of federal restrictions.
Confirmed that per federal law this is illegal, no matter what the Connecticut legislature passes. And that's a long shot; the bill is just a "proposal" and only a paragraph long.
— Ryan Butler (@ButlerBets) January 22, 2025
TLDR don't expect to be placing bets when you're flying from Hartford to Atlanta any time soon... https://t.co/QoZL7ITNKs
Still, it’s quite an idea. The bill was introduced by Rep. Christopher Rosario (D) and was referred to the Joint Committee on General Law on Wednesday. Not much else was listed in the legislation piece, other than 1% of sports betting revenue generated on flights supporting public education throughout the state.
Sports betting currently operates through FanDuel, DraftKings, and Fanatics Sportsbook in the Nutmeg State, which generated more than $2 billion in wagers and nearly $26 million in tax revenue for Connecticut.
DraftKings and Delta
This proposal comes on the heels of a partnership that would tie hand-in-hand with the bill.
DraftKings struck a deal with Delta Airlines earlier this month.
“From fantasy sports to online adventures gaming has become a regular part of the daily lives for millions of our customers and you shouldn’t have to hit pause just because you’re in the skies,” Delta CEO Ed Bastian said at the Consumer Electronics Show. “Our partnership with DraftKings will build on the games portfolio that we already offer today via Delta Sync and our seatback screens while using the deep expertise (DraftKings CEO) Jason (Robins) and his team have developed over the past decade.”
The partnership does not include sports betting on flights.
ICYMI: DraftKings and Delta announced a partnership that will include DraftKings-powered gaming options on the back of Delta seatback screens; further details have not been released, but federal law prohibits real money sports betting while in the air
— Ryan Butler (@ButlerBets) January 9, 2025
Sports betting reform
Whether or not Rosario’s proposal gets much traction, there’s already a sports betting reform push in the Nutmeg State as five wagering-related bills have been filed this month.
Rep. Tony Scott has proposed legalizing betting on in-state college teams to keep residents from leaving Connecticut to wager on schools like UConn in New York or Massachusetts.
Another bill requires two-way wagering in all markets, like being able to bet both sides of “will a team score on the first drive?”
Other proposals include creating betting opt-outs for customers, sportsbooks correcting any known errors before an event begins to cancel or refund erroneous wagers, and setting a maximum hold percentage for operators.
