Most states that license DraftKings run an open field — a dozen operators competing for the same customers. Connecticut wrote its law the opposite way: exactly three online gaming licenses, no more, ever, unless the legislature changes the statute. DraftKings holds one of them, through a partnership with the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation, owner of Foxwoods Resort Casino, and that arrangement is now closing in on a built-in deadline written into the law from the start.
Is DraftKings Legal in Connecticut? Yes — One of Exactly Three
The Connecticut General Assembly passed the authorizing legislation on May 25, 2021, the same month Governor Ned Lamont signed amended gaming compacts with the Mashantucket Pequot and Mohegan tribes. The law created online sports betting, online casino gaming, and online DFS — and capped the online market at three licenses total: one for the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation, one for the Mohegan Tribe, one for the Connecticut Lottery Corporation. DraftKings partners with the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation; FanDuel runs through the Mohegan Tribe; the Lottery's skin operator has changed hands over the years and is Fanatics Sportsbook as of 2026. There is no license path open to a fourth national brand.
Same-day double launch. Retail sports betting opened first, on September 30, 2021. Three weeks later, at 6 a.m. on October 19, 2021, DraftKings and Foxwoods launched the online sportsbook and the online casino together — not staggered months apart the way some states roll out casino separately from sports betting.
Is DraftKings Legit in Connecticut?
The three-license structure can look, from the outside, like a workaround an operator settled for. It isn't — Connecticut built the market that way deliberately, betting that a small, tightly regulated field would be easier to police than an open one. The Department of Consumer Protection publishes monthly handle and gross gaming revenue figures for all three licensees, and DraftKings has run without a licensing interruption since the October 2021 launch. Statewide, online wagering now accounts for more than 96.5% of all betting activity in Connecticut, and FanDuel and DraftKings have traded the lead in monthly handle by margins as small as a few million dollars.
The Casino Half of the License
Connecticut is one of only five states — alongside Michigan, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia — where DraftKings operates a full online casino rather than sportsbook only. That matters for the tax math, because Connecticut taxes the two products differently: sports betting revenue at a flat 13.75%, online casino revenue on a schedule that changes over time.
The rate that steps up this October. Connecticut taxes the tribal partners' online casino revenue at 18% for their first five years of operation, rising to 20% after that, with a separate rule requiring the tribes to share 20% of online casino revenue with the state once the same five-year window closes. DraftKings and Foxwoods launched October 19, 2021 — meaning the five-year mark, and the tax step-up, lands in October 2026. Sports betting's 13.75% rate is untouched by any of it.
How Safe Is DraftKings for Connecticut Players?
Standard regulated-market protections apply: DCP Gaming Division licensing of the Foxwoods partnership, mandatory geolocation to confirm a player is physically in-state, and identity verification at signup. A market this small is also one of the more transparent ones to watch from the outside — monthly public reporting on handle, revenue, and tax collections for just three operators leaves little room for a bad month to hide inside a larger data set.
Bottom line: DraftKings is fully legal in Connecticut, has run continuously since October 19, 2021, and offers both sportsbook and casino under one of only three licenses the state will ever issue under current law. The one thing worth watching isn't legality — it's the tax rate on the casino side, set to rise this October exactly five years after the partnership began. Treat any deposit as entertainment spending, not income. 21+ only, and if it stops feeling like entertainment, Connecticut's problem gambling helpline is 1-888-789-7777.