Losing bet? Downtown Hartford sports-betting lounge on track to lose money for second year running
Greg Bordonaro | Hartford Business Journal
The sports betting facility at the XL Center in downtown Hartford.
A sports-betting lounge that opened inside Hartford’s XL Center arena in 2023 is on track to lose more than $200,000 by the close of the fiscal year.
This is prompting the Capital Region Development Authority to contemplate cost-saving measures that include a reduced schedule.
The 5,000-square-foot sports bar and betting venue built on the side of the XL Center facing Ann Uccello Street was part of a $15 million publicly funded package of upgrades to the building. It opened in September 2023, after construction delays and a great deal of anticipation.
CRDA Chief Financial Officer Joseph Geremia told the CRDA Board of Directors during its March 20 meeting the venue is on track to lose more than $200,000 by the close of fiscal 2025.
That’s less than the roughly $500,000 it lost in fiscal 2024, but board members were still disappointed.
“That’s not a good business,” said Andy F. Bessette, a CRDA board member, who is executive vice president and chief administrative officer of property and casualty insurer The Travelers Cos. “If that was any of our companies, we would not continue to run this business. So, what are we doing?”
Geremia told the board the sports lounge will move to shorter hours as the NCAA college basketball tournament wraps up. The CRDA is also scheduled to discuss additional operational changes with the Connecticut Lottery Corp. to further rein-in costs.
CRDA officials noted that any operating deficit at the sports-betting facility will eventually become the responsibility of Los Angeles-based Oak View Group. The international sports and entertainment venue operator has agreed to take on responsibility for any losses at the XL Center as part of a 20-year agreement to operate the facility following an ongoing $145 million renovation.
The XL Center has run annual deficits of about $2 million in recent years, but OVG has said it’s confident it can steer the venue into profitability. Its agreement with CRDA allows the company to pocket any net annual profits up to $4 million, with any amount over that threshold split evenly with CRDA, which would reinvest its share of profits into XL Center maintenance.
The agreement with OVG will come into force no earlier than July 2026, CRDA Executive Director Michael Freimuth said.
Freimuth said it has become clear that people are predominantly using their smartphones to place sports bets.
While his agency may have missed its bet that in-person sports betting would be a winner, the venture did net a new sports bar for the XL Center. That, in itself, has proven a popular amenity and might prove worthwhile with the right adjustments.
“We are going to figure it out,” Freimuth said. “It will just be different from the full-blown operations we have had.”
Most Recent
Most Recent
0 Comments