Foxwoods el San Juan Casino in gaming pact with DraftKings
By The Star Staff
The Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation, the tribe that owns and operates Foxwoods Resort Casino in Connecticut, plus Foxwoods el San Juan Casino, has announced a partnership with DraftKings to run retail and online gaming operations, a mainland publication said.
The information was provided by Casino.org on Monday.
The partnership expansion includes DraftKings opening a retail sportsbook inside Foxwoods El San Juan Casino in the coming weeks, pending licensing and regulatory approvals. DraftKings expects to operate an online sportsbook and DFS (daily fantasy sports) platform once the island government finalizes such regulatory conditions, the publication stated.
“Puerto Rico is known for its rich and vibrant sports culture, and we look forward to being able to provide fans with a safe and legal form of sports betting through our retail and online sportsbooks,” Matt Kalish, DraftKings president and co-founder, told Casino.org.
The Mashantucket tribe and DraftKings partnership was reached last year after Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont amended Foxwoods’ Class III gaming compact to include sports betting and online gaming inside the state.
On Dec. 30, 2020, Puerto Rico’s then-Gov. Wanda Vázquez Garced signed the Legislative Assembly’s sports betting bill just days before she was succeeded by Gov. Pedro Pierluisi Urrutia. Puerto Rico Senate Bill 1534 authorized retail and mobile sports betting, plus DFS. The sports betting bill amended the island’s Gambling Law to include expanded gaming.
The legislation ordered the island Gaming Commission to determine regulations to govern sports betting and DFS. COVID-19 greatly delayed the process. The first legal bets were only placed in February of this year. BetMGM was first in the local market with its partnership at the Casino del Mar at La Concha Resort, Casino.org said.
Puerto Rico gaming officials are still fielding applications to conduct online sports betting. The Gaming Commission started accepting such tenders last November, the publication said.
Puerto Rico will tax sports betting uniformly regardless of where the sportsbook revenue is generated. Gross income from sports gambling — online and retail — is subject to a 20% tax. The island government expects to receive around $20 million annually from sports betting.