State Approves Online Betting For Horse Racing, Set To Launch In April

The adage that you can’t control the Internet showed itself again Tuesday as Connecticut approved online horse racing wagering, even as broader Internet gaming is hotly debated.

My story lays out the details.

Quietly, the state Department of Consumer Protection extended the license of the company that operates off-track betting at 15 locations, and by telephone. The logic: Under a federal exemption, Internet horse betting is covered under the telephone betting license.

Anything that adds revenue to the state is being fast-tracked, pardon the pun.

Does that make state-sanctioned gambling more akin to, say, the movie industry — people spend money willingly on a form of entertainment that creates local jobs — or is the state feeding off the victims of an addiction?

There’s been plenty of back-and-forth about the issue at the state Capitol.  Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, wisely, knows it can’t be stopped.

Thankfully, as Rep. Stephen Dargan puts it, with gambling we at least have a break from the usual red-blue political divide.