Connecticut Lawmakers Propose to Legalize Online Gambling to Fund PACT Program

Connecticut Lawmakers are planning to legalize online gambling to help fund the state’s Pledge to Advance Connecticut (PACT) program.

A group of Democratic legislators unveiled plans Friday to legalize additional forms of gambling. The new tax revenue that it would derive should be allocated to the state’s PACT program, they say.

Formed in 2019, PACT bridges the gap of leftover financing costs after students receive federal, state, and institutional assistance. The program is designed to offer qualifying students a debt-free college education.

The lawmakers supporting Friday’s announcement want to legalize internet lottery sales, online gambling, and sports betting.

“The idea that we have to make it possible for lower-income people to navigate the higher education system by at the very least not going into debt when they go to community college is so important,” Senate President Pro Tempore Martin Looney (D-New Haven) said.

“Today, it is even more important to access higher education, because a high school diploma is so much more limiting now than it was many years ago,” he added.