DraftKings Puerto Rico Sportsbook Still Starts at Foxwoods

DraftKings opened its Puerto Rico online sportsbook on February 23, 2026, for residents who register in person at Foxwoods El San Juan Casino.

Visitors still bet only at the counter. Puerto Rico’s gaming law requires that extra stop, and it puts a Connecticut tribe at the door of the DraftKings app.

The Puerto Rico App Still Starts at a Casino Desk

The Boston operator, listed as Nasdaq: DKNG, said the online sportsbook for Puerto Rico residents went live after a retail book at the same Isla Verde casino. Eligible locals who finish on-site sign-up can then use same-game parlays, in-game betting, and odds boosts on MLB, NFL, NBA, and other leagues from anywhere on the island.

Non-residents are shut out of that app. They may still walk up to the DraftKings retail book at Foxwoods El San Juan and bet in person. That split is the product, not a footnote. A phone download does not finish the account.

Gregory Karamitis, DraftKings executive vice president and general manager of sports, framed the launch as a way to reach fans who already follow the games.

Puerto Rico has a passionate sports community and launching our online sportsbook allows us to meet fans where they are. With retail already live at Foxwoods El San Juan Casino, mobile represents the next step in expanding the DraftKings experience across the island, giving eligible local customers a seamless, exciting, and responsible way to engage with sports.

Gregory Karamitis, Executive Vice President and General Manager of Sports, DraftKings

The company posted the same notice on its news account the day the app opened. The post read like a press wire because that is what the launch was: an account you still open at a cage.

.@DraftKings Launches Online Sportsbook in Puerto Rico, Expanding Access for Residents.

More: https://t.co/RmlQLbCP24 pic.twitter.com/KCdLY223fV

— DraftKings News (@DraftKingsNews) February 23, 2026

DraftKings also said the sportsbook was live with mobile and/or retail betting in 29 states, Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico, and Ontario. Puerto Rico is on that list with a catch no large state launch carries. The catch is a desk in Isla Verde.

A Connecticut Tribe Owns the Only DraftKings Door

Foxwoods El San Juan sits inside the Fairmont El San Juan Hotel. The Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation owns and runs it with Miami hospitality firm LionGrove, and the property is the tribe’s first gaming venture outside of Connecticut.

On Friday, November 14, 2025, DraftKings, the tribe, and LionGrove opened the retail sportsbook during the casino’s four-year anniversary. Yankees catcher Jorge Posada placed the ceremonial first bet. The space has betting kiosks, an over-the-counter ticket window, and a sports lounge. The casino floor around it spans 15,000 square feet, with nearly 300 slot machines and 14 table games, including blackjack, craps, and roulette.

Rodney Butler, chairman of the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation, tied the book to the tribe’s wider entertainment push on the island.

We’re proud to continue building on our legacy of innovation and entertainment at Foxwoods El San Juan Casino. The addition of the DraftKings retail sportsbook marks another exciting milestone as we deliver new experiences to guests and sports fans in Puerto Rico.

Rodney Butler, Chairman, Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation

Andro Nodarse-Leon, founder and CEO of LionGrove, said the sportsbook lifts the property as an entertainment stop for guests from Puerto Rico and abroad. LionGrove keeps offices in Miami and San Juan. The tribe’s mainland record is a different ledger: it said it has sent Connecticut more than $4.5 billion in slot revenue since a 1993 compact, through Foxwoods Resort Casino in Mashantucket.

That history matters here only because the same owner now collects the foot traffic DraftKings needs. Every new app customer has to enter this casino, show identification, and complete in-person registration before the phone works. The tribe does not need a download. It needs the walk-in.

Why Puerto Rico Makes Bettors Register in Person

DraftKings did not invent the casino visit. Lawmakers did. Act 81-2019, the Government of Puerto Rico Gaming Commission Act, legalized sports betting, including on the internet, and set the legal age at 18. Act 168 of December 30, 2020, then tightened the sign-up path. The English text of the amended statute says a player must register in person at a Principal Operator before placing a sports bet, in person or online, and that this registration is an essential condition. Fantasy contests sit outside that rule.

The 2020 amendment said digital sign-up had weakened identity checks the original law wanted. The fix was a physical stop at a licensed Principal Operator. After that visit, the player may bet by the methods that operator is allowed to offer. For DraftKings, that operator location is Foxwoods El San Juan, not a kiosk in Mayagüez or a desk at another San Juan hotel.

THE RULES THAT SHAPE THE APP

• Who can use the app: Puerto Rico residents who finish in-person registration at Foxwoods El San Juan.
• Who cannot: Visitors, who may bet only at the retail counter.
• Tax on internet bets: 12 percent of gross income from those bets.
• Tax on retail bets: 7 percent of gross income from bets placed in person.
• Online casino: Not authorized, so the legal app is sports only.

Those two tax rates are why a hybrid model is not a small compliance detail. Internet bets cost the operator more than counter bets. The law also pushes new customers through a casino floor that sells slots and tables the app is not allowed to match. DraftKings points players to tools such as My Budget Builder and My Stat Sheet in its Responsible Gaming Center, and it lists the tribe and Foxwoods as partners on that file. The first control is still the ID check at the property.

BetMGM, Caesars and FanDuel Got There First

DraftKings is the fourth major U.S. sportsbook to turn on a Puerto Rico app, not the first. BetMGM took retail bets in February 2022 with Casino del Mar at La Concha Resort, then launched the island’s first legal online sportsbook on June 8, 2023. Caesars followed with an app in July 2023, tied to Casino Metro. FanDuel went live online and at a San Juan retail book with CAGE Puerto Rico II in January 2025.

The Foxwoods deal is older than those go-lives. DraftKings and the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation announced plans for Puerto Rico retail and online sports betting in April 2022, after they had already worked together in Connecticut. The retail door opened on November 14, 2025. The app followed on February 23, 2026, 101 days later.

HOW THE ISLAND GOT FOUR NATIONAL BOOKS

1. June 29, 2019: Puerto Rico legalizes sports betting under Act 81-2019 and creates the Gaming Commission.
2. December 30, 2020: Act 168 requires in-person registration at a Principal Operator before any sports bet.
3. February 2022: BetMGM opens the first retail sportsbook, at Casino del Mar.
4. June 8, 2023: BetMGM launches the first legal online sportsbook on the island.
5. July 2023: Caesars turns on its Puerto Rico app.
6. January 2025: FanDuel goes live online and at a San Juan retail book with CAGE Puerto Rico II.
7. November 14, 2025: DraftKings opens retail at Foxwoods El San Juan, with Jorge Posada on the first ticket.
8. February 23, 2026: DraftKings turns on the resident-only app after Foxwoods registration.

BetMGM has since added satellite retail beyond San Juan, including a book at Mayagüez Resort and Casino with Casino del Mar and Paulson Puerto Rico. FanDuel’s partner is a terminals firm, not a tribal casino. DraftKings chose the Foxwoods door it already knew from Connecticut. That choice concentrates new DraftKings accounts in one Isla Verde building while rivals collect sign-ups at other licensed desks.

WHO HOLDS THE REGISTRATION DESK

Paul Liberman, DraftKings president of operations, said at the retail opening that Puerto Rico has a deep sports culture and that the company wanted eligible customers to have a responsible way to follow it. The online step did not remove the eligible-customer filter. It moved that filter from the ticket window to a one-time visit, then sent residents home with the app.

Illegal Sites Still Take Most of the Online Money

The legal books are not the only offer on a Puerto Rican phone. Yield Sec, in a Puerto Rico briefing prepared in December 2025 for the Campaign for Fairer Gambling, measured the online gambling market DraftKings was about to enter. For 2024 it put total online gambling gross gaming revenue at $156 million. Legal operators kept $25 million, or 16 percent. Illegal operators kept $131 million, or 84 percent.

All of that legal $25 million was sports. Online casino is not allowed, so Yield Sec marked legal casino as not applicable. Illegal sports GGR was $58 million. Illegal casino GGR was $73 million. In other words, unlicensed casino games, which DraftKings cannot sell here, were the single largest slice, and unlicensed sports still beat the entire legal sportsbook market.

ONLINE GAMBLING GGR IN 2024

Yield Sec counted 1,327 illegal operators targeting Puerto Rico that year, against 5 legal ones, and said 89 percent of online gambling audience exposure went to illegal brands. It estimated that 634,000 people, 21 percent of Puerto Ricans, used online gambling, and that 514,000 people, 17 percent, used illegal sites. First-half 2025 did not flip the split. Total online GGR was $88 million, with legal books at $13 million (15 percent) and illegal books at $75 million (85 percent), on 941 illegal operators and 6 legal ones, and 93 percent illegal audience exposure.

The briefing is explicit about why the legal side loses on a phone. Legal operators pay tax and follow Puerto Rican rules. They cannot pair a sports bet with an online slot. Illegal sites skip the tax, skip the casino visit, and sell sports plus casino on the same login. That is the market the Foxwoods desk is asked to compete with. A resident who will not drive to Isla Verde can still find a book that never asks them to.

Yield Sec’s own summary was that illegal operators took 84% of online gambling revenue in 2024. DraftKings walked into that math in February 2026 with a sports-only app and a mandatory casino stop. The tribe gains the visit. The unlicensed sites keep the customers who never make it.

The Isla Verde Desk That Unlocks the App

Foxwoods El San Juan lists the DraftKings sportsbook as the official betting partner of the property. It tells guests to place live bets at kiosks and cashier windows every day. Sportsbook kiosk and cashier hours run from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 a.m., Sunday through Saturday, matching the casino’s posted day. The property posts a problem-gambling line, 1-800-981-0023, and states the 18-plus age rule in English and Spanish.

WHAT THE FOXWOODS STOP ACTUALLY IS

• Hours: 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 a.m. daily for kiosks and cashiers.
• Hardware: Betting kiosks, a ticket window, and a sports lounge on a 15,000-square-foot casino floor.
• After sign-up: Residents keep same-game parlays, live bets, and odds boosts on the DraftKings app inside Puerto Rico.
• For visitors: Counter bets only, with no app access.

That schedule is the real on-ramp. A resident who works days can still reach the desk at night. A tourist who wants the DraftKings app cannot, even at 11 p.m. on a Saturday. The company, the tribe, and LionGrove all describe the arrangement as a collaboration. The collaboration has a physical address, and the address is the product.

The app is on. The account still begins at Foxwoods El San Juan, where a Connecticut tribe’s first Caribbean casino takes the registration the 2020 law demanded, then sends residents home and leaves visitors at the window.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do You Have to Register in Person for Every Puerto Rico Sportsbook?

DraftKings requires the visit at Foxwoods El San Juan before its app will take a bet. Other licensed books use their own Principal Operator locations, so a sign-up at Casino del Mar or a FanDuel retail desk does not open a DraftKings account. Fantasy contests are the statutory exception; they do not need that in-person sports-bet registration.

Can Tourists Use DraftKings Online While Visiting Puerto Rico?

No. Non-residents may bet only at the retail sportsbook inside Foxwoods El San Juan. Geolocation and residency checks keep the app on the island for locals who already completed the casino registration, which is why a vacation stay does not equal a mobile account.

Is Online Casino Legal in Puerto Rico?

No. The Gaming Commission Act authorized sports betting, including internet sports bets, and fantasy contests. It did not authorize online slots or table games, which is why Yield Sec recorded legal online casino GGR as not applicable and why illegal casino sites still sell a product the licensed apps cannot.

What Is the Legal Sports Betting Age in Puerto Rico?

The legal age is 18, which is younger than the 21-plus rule used in most U.S. states. Foxwoods El San Juan posts that limit at the sportsbook, and the statute tells the Commission to block anyone under 18 from registering as an authorized player.

What Problem-Gambling Help Line Does Foxwoods Post?

The casino sportsbook page tells guests to call 1-800-981-0023 if play is causing money, family, or work problems, and it repeats the message in Spanish. DraftKings separately offers My Budget Builder and My Stat Sheet through its Responsible Gaming Center after an account exists.

Registration at Foxwoods El San Juan still runs on that 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 a.m. clock. Until the law changes the Principal Operator rule, the DraftKings Puerto Rico app opens at the same desk that took Posada’s first ticket in November 2025.