As Connecticut lawmakers prepare to consider Gov. Ned LaMont’s latest budget bill, gaming stakeholders say this could be the first concrete step toward legalizing sports betting and multiple forms of iGaming in the state. Tribal interests and the state have been in negotiations for several years to legalize sports betting, and the tribes have been unwilling to budge off of exclusivity all along.

“We’re actually in a pretty decent spot after the governor put [gaming] in his budget and released a placeholder bill,” Rodney Butler, chairman of the Mashantucket Pequot Tribe, told Sports Handle. “That’s the furthest we’ve ever gotten, so that’s a good thing.”

On Feb. 11, Lamont introduced his budget, which includes sports betting, iGaming, iLottery, and iKeno.