Newest CT sports betting venue opens Saturday
HARTFORD — The long-awaited $5 million sports bar and betting venue at downtown Hartford’s XL Center will get a week-long tryout beginning Saturday, prior to a grand opening on Sept. 18.
On Thursday afternoon, there were last-minute preparations before an evening reception for invited guests.
Bartenders cut up oranges and limes on a white, quartz bar that will serve beer, wine and cocktails. Chefs in a new commercial kitchen geared up to serve a new menu that ranges from the Sportsbook Club for $8 to the XL Burger for $12.
At the main entrance, 13 “self-serve” betting kiosks and two windows for cash wagers had already gone live, hours before the kick-off of this fall’s NFL season.
Bets will only be accepted in cash under a provision of the sweeping expansion of legalized gambling that took affect a year ago. So no credit cards. But the new venue is equipped with an ATM. Kiosks will spit out tickets with winnings that can be redeemed at the cash windows.
The sportsbook will open at 10:30 a.m. and operate until 11 p.m. beginning Saturday, but the hours could vary depending on whether there are events in the arena.
The venue will be open seven days a week even when there are no events booked at the arena.
A 250-foot long, ticker scrolled Thursday with constant updates of sports scores and news. There are television screens everywhere — 86 of them — on the walls, in booths and near the bar. Some may eventually be moved to an outdoor patio still under construction.
“Only one didn’t work, so that one over there has to be replaced,” Ben Weiss, the XL Center’s general manager said, pointing to the southern corner of the venue during a tour Thursday. “So that’s pretty good.”
Overhead is a canopy of thousands of foam slats styled to resemble wood, designed to muffle sound and camouflage the air circulation system.
The venture is a partnership between the Connecticut Lottery Corp., which will oversee the betting, and the quasi-public Capital Region Development Authority, which oversaw design and construction, and will run the sports bar.
There is enough seating — at the bar, at café-style tables and booths — to accommodate 90. The venue can hold about 300 and overlooks Ann Uccello Street through a floor-to-ceiling glass wall.
Another glass wall separates the bar and sportsbook from the arena.
“The really cool thing is that can open up and we can really make this an extension of the concourse when it appropriate,” Weiss said. “And when it’s not appropriate, we can really seal this off and make it a free-standing business.”
When there are events, those attending will have to show their tickets to move between the arena and the sportsbook.
The venue will be staffed with some part-time workers already employed at the arena. But Weiss said another 30 or so part-time workers related to the venue’s opening have been added to the arena’s workforce.
The sportsbook opening was delayed a year because construction materials — everything from glass and components for heating and cooling systems to even chips for video display boards — were backlogged for months in the aftermath of the pandemic’s supply-chain disruptions.
But now, as the new, state-financed venue opens, hope are running high for attracting visitors to the arena even when there isn’t a sporting or entertainment event and earning sorely needed revenue for a coliseum that has struggled financially for decades.
“The real interesting thing to me is how we changed the building’s feel to the street,” Michael W. Freimuth, executive director of the Capital Region Development Authority, said. “It always been, ‘How do you make the building more active when you were dealing with what it was: concrete and steel?’ ”
The sports betting venue is an upper level addition to the XL Center that did not previously exist.
“To me, this is something we had always hoped to do,” Freimuth said. The sportsbook gave us a reason to push it.”
There also is optimism that the sportsbook — a major new amenity at XL — will be the lead-in to a much larger, $107 million renovation contemplated for the 16,000-seat arena, perhaps beginning as early as next year.
The XL sportsbook is the 10th betting venue to open under expanded legalized gambling with five more to go. The legislation provided for two larger venues, one in Hartford and the other in Bridgeport. The Lottery hasn’t announced the Bridgeport site, but is in active negotiations with a similar location as the XL Center.
The Lottery also is negotiating with new sports betting operator because its first, Rush Street Interactive, is preparing to exit the state later this year.
Andrew Walter, director of legal and business affairs at The Lottery’s sports betting division, said it is not known how long it will take for the betting venue and bar at the XL to develop a following.
“We’re intentionally starting off slowly,” Walter said. “We’ll be open this weekend without any advertising. We start advertising next week and, of course, using our own social media channels and things like that to spread the word. I’m fine if this grows organically over the first few years. That’s what I expect.”
