nothin Sports Betting Kicks Off At Sports Haven | New Haven Independent

Sports Betting Kicks Off At Sports Haven

Thomas Breen photos

Vinny Rosarbo betting on the Saints …

… as Gov. Lamont (far right) and other state officials cut the ribbon on legal sports betting at Sports Haven.

Sliding five new $100 bills into a self-serve kiosk at Sports Haven, Vinny Rosarbo bet on more than just the New Orleans Saints beating the Seattle Seahawks.

He was also throwing his support behind a statewide wager that newly legalized gambling options will help Connecticut more than it will hurt by promoting the kind of addiction that led a state representative to resign his position the same day.

Rosarbo was one of the first people in the state on Monday to cast a legal, in-person sports bet at a venue other than Connecticut’s two tribal casinos.

He wagered $500 on the Saints beating the Seahawks in tonight’s Monday Night Football matchup soon after Gov. Ned Lamont, Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz, and a host of Connecticut gambling boosters cut the ribbon on 20 new sports betting kiosks at the Sports Haven off-track betting complex at 600 Long Wharf Dr.

Sports Haven at 600 Long Wharf Dr.

Sports Haven is the first venue in the state, outside of the tribal-run casinos Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun, to allow Connecticut residents over the age of 21 to place legal wagers on a host of professional and college sporting events. (Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun kicked off in-person sports last month.)

The Connecticut Lottery Corporation and the New York-based sports gambling company Rush Street Interactive plan to roll out 15 new retail sportsbooks” at venues across the state, with kiosks slated to be installed in the coming days at Bobby V’s Restaurant & Sports Bar locations in Stamford and Windsor Locks.

Inside the quiet gambling venue, before Monday’s press conference.

Sports Haven’s new sports betting kiosks.


A lot of people I know would go to Massachusetts or New York” to place a legal sports bet, said Robaro, a Sports Haven regular who grew up in New Haven and now lives in Branford.

About his own $500 wager that the Saints will beat the Seahawks and that the combined point score in Monday night’s NFL game will be under 41.5? Win or lose, I’m glad Connecticut’s gonna benefit,” Robaro said, with all of the additional anticipated revenue coming to the state through expanded legalized gambling.

According to CTNewsJunkie, sports betting is expected to bring in roughly $19 million in tax revenue in its first year, and $23 million in tax revenue in its second year.

I think it’s going to be packed over the weekend,” he predicted, surveying the cavernous oil drum-shaped betting venue near Long Wharf. Besides the two dozen state officials and Connecticut gambling promoters and Sports Haven employees packed in for Monday afternoon’s press conference, just a handful of silver-haired bettors were present, turning their attention between the supersized horse-race screens at one end of the building and the newly installed sports betting kiosks at the other.

State Officials: Keep It Fun”

Connecticut Lottery President Greg Smith (right) on Monday.

State officials who spoke up during Monday’s celebratory press conference focused nearly as much time on the various resources available to help people with gambling addictions as they did lauding the newly legalized recreational, and state revenue-generating, activity.

We want people who are interested to bet on sports,” said Connecticut Lottery President Greg Smith. We want them to do it well, to be knowledgeable, ask questions, and keep it fun. It if ever feels otherwise, then please call the problem gambling hotline to get assistance.”

Lottery board Chair Rob Simmelkjaer.

Connecticut Lottery Board Chair Rob Simmelkjaer gave a shoutout to the state’s problem gambling hotline, which is 888 – 789-7777.

We at Connecticut Lottery will never forget the important obligation that we have to operate gaming safely and responsibly,” he said. Our message today to bettors is clear: Sports betting is for fun. It is not a way to make a living for the vast majority of people who bet on sports.

Bet because you can afford to bet. Bet because it’s fun. Bet because you want to, not because you have to. And if you run into trouble,” because of the state legislation that legalized sports and online betting, there are more resources available to help you.”

Lt. Gov. Bysiewicz.

Lt. Gov. Bysiewicz spoke about how Connecticut’s sports betting app — called PlaySugarHouse — includes prompts to allow those who choose to gamble to set limits.”

It also allows users of the app who fear they won’t be able to stick to their self-imposed limits to add their name to the state’s voluntary self-exclusion list.”

Gov. Lamont, betting on the Giants.


This is not some way to make a lot of money fast,” Gov. Lamont said before casting his $20 bet that the New York Giants will win their next football game.

That’s not the way to do it. This is a way to have a little bit of fun.”

Outside Sports Haven.

Monday’s press conference also took place on the same day that West Haven/New Haven State Rep. Michael DiMassa resigned from his state lawmaking position. 

His resignation came less than a week after he was arrested and charged in federal court for allegedly stealing over $600,000 in Covid-19 relief funds from West Haven city government. According to the federal arrest warrant affidavit in his case, DiMassa used some of those allegedly stolen funds to buy tens of thousands of dollars worth of poker chips at Mohegan Sun. And a federal judge said during last week’s court hearing that DiMassa is in treatment for a gambling addiction.

Asked about how he squares Connecticut’s expansion of gambling taking place on the same day that a state lawmaker resigned for alleged crimes apparently related to a gambling problem, the governor dismissed the premise of the question.

It’s a breach of the public trust,” Lamont said about the allegations in DiMassa’s case. It has nothing to do with what we’re doing here today.”

Bookies Be Gone

Vinnie Lucibello.

The few bettors at Sports Haven on Monday afternoon responded to the introduction of sports betting with largely positive, if sometimes mixed, reactions.

I think it’s about time they did it,” said Vinnie Lucibello, a lifelong Wooster Square resident who said he’s been coming to New Haven’s off-track horse betting venue for over three decades. It would have saved me a lot of time” if the state had legalized sports betting sooner.

The best part about the state legalizing sports betting is that avid sports gamblers like himself no longer have to deal with bookies when they want to place a wager, Lucibello said. Now they can just come to Sports Haven and put their money in a kiosk or hand it over to an employee.

Lucibello said he lost $500 just yesterday betting on the Baltimore Ravens and the Kansas City Chiefs. He’s not deterred, though. He’ll keep betting on football teams, even if he doesn’t win every game, he said.

Frank Proto.

Frank Proto said he’ll likely stay away from the new sports betting option. Not because he disapproves of it being available, but because he prefers keeping his money on the horses.

I enjoy watching the races,” he said. I’m 89 years old. What else am I gonna do?”

He recalled coming to Sports Haven frequently with his friends in the 1980s. They’d eat at the upstairs restaurant, get a drink at the bar, bet on horses. It’s a sociable place,” he said. It’s a nice place to kill a few hours.”

Paul DeCola.

Paul DeCola said he too will be staying away from the new breed of sports bets. He said he thinks the introduction of legal sports betting is a bad thing.”

Why is that? You’ve got enough to bet on” already, he said. With this additional options, people are gonna bet who don’t have the money to lose.”

Like Proto, he’ll be sticking with the horses.

Charles Rochester, who declined to be photographed for this story, shared DeCola’s wariness.

I don’t mess with it,” he said about sports betting. He said he comes to Sports Haven for the fun of watching the horses run, and occasionally putting money on which one will win.

When asked how frequently he wins, Rochester offered what he characterized as a sober truth about gambling. In this game, nobody wins,” he said. Instead, you have good days, and you have mad days.”

Todd Hill.

Todd Hill wasn’t at Sports Haven Monday to bet. He was there for his job. The native New Havener works as the marketing manager for Sportech, the parent company that owns Sports Haven.

Growing up between Westville and Dwight and Downtown, Hill said, he was never a bettor — though his grandmother was.

Legalized sports betting should reinvigorate” Sports Haven, he said. Why? Because it’s a younger person’s game.”

A majority of the players who come in to bet on horses are in their 30s, 40s, 50s, and older, he said. Hopefully, he said, legalized sports betting will bring in people in the 25-year-old range.

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