A new bill offered in Connecticut's state legislature includes text designed to allow the state to join a multi-jurisdictional compact and pool players in peer-to-peer games, meaning online poker. Connecticut Senate Bill 1464 was introduced on Thursday by the Joint Committee on General Law, where the bill has been assigned for consideration.
SB 1464 is a broad, gambling-related bill, including provisions specific in several areas while also addressing some industry-wide concerns, including new protections for problem gamblers, including deposit limits and self-exclusion options. The online poker inclusions infer that Connecticut, a state that has already approved online poker but where the framework remains under development, could possibly go live later in 2025.
Compact discretion assigned to Governor
SB 1464's proposal to allow Connecticut to join a compact such as the Multi-State Internet Gaming Agreement (MSIGA), is straightforward:
"The Governor may enter into agreements with one or more states or territories of the United States, or federally recognized Indian tribes engaged in Indian gaming operations, to authorize online gaming operators to conduct multijurisdictional Internet gaming for peer-to-peer casino games, provided (1) entering into such agreements is consistent with all applicable state and federal laws and regulations, and (2) such Internet gaming is conducted exclusively within the United States."
The language as proposed allows for both tribal and commercial casino entities to be licensed, but would bar player pooling with international jurisdictions, even those that are considered well-regulated by global standards.
SB 1464 currently carries an effective date of July 1, 2025. It's highly unlikely that real-money online poker sites could go live in Connecticut by that date, though the 2025 date and the bill being submitted by a joint committee, indicate the matter will receive serious consideration this year. A public hearing on SB 1464 has already been scheduled for Wednesday, March 12.
Multi-accounting provision also included
Another provision tucked within SB 1464 is language designed to prohibit an individual from multi-accounting on any Connecticut online sites. The provision specifies that any player could create only one account on any given platform, even if that platform offers more than one skin.
