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Yes.

The sports-betting lounge at the multi-use People’s Bank Arena in Hartford is being funded by Connecticut taxpayer dollars that repay bonds the state borrowed to build it.

The state agency Capital Region Development Authority, which stimulates economic development and investments in and around the Hartford region, manages the People’s Bank Arena, formerly known as the XL Center. 

For the 2023-2024 Fiscal Year, the General Assembly authorized CRDA to borrow $125 billion dollars in bonds from investors through the Connecticut State Bond Commission to improve the arena.

The sports-betting lounge, which opened in 2023, was constructed with a portion of these funds. The bonds are being repaid over the next 20 years using taxes collected from Connecticut state residents, such as income and sales tax.

Since its opening, the lounge has been losing money, and by the end of the 2025 fiscal year, it’s on track to lose $200,000.

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Sources

Mariana Navarrete Villegas is a Community Engagement Reporter for The Connecticut Mirror, covering Hartford. She recently graduated from the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism with a master’s degree in Bilingual Journalism. Previously, she was the Community Engagement and Video Assistant at Epicenter-NYC and a Podcast Intern at The Take, Al Jazeera English’s daily news podcast. As a reporter, she has covered stories from New York to Florida, California, Panama, and Mexico, focusing on labor rights, immigration, and community care. She also hosts 'La Chismesita,' a community radio show in New York that archives oral histories through conversations with women community leaders. Originally from Mexico, Mariana spent her teenage years in Panama. She holds a B.A. in Global Studies with a minor in Psychology from Saint Leo University, where she interned at the International Rescue Committee.