Consumer protection official urges higher restitution cap and updated gaming statute to cover rigging

Brian Caffarelli, Connecticut's commissioner of consumer protection, testified March 4 in favor of changes in Senate Bill 296 that would raise the agency's restitution cap and update gaming statutes to address cheating in sports wagering.

Caffarelli told the Judiciary Committee that the existing CUTPA restitution cap has not been increased in more than a decade and that raising it to $25,000 would allow the Department of Consumer Protection to make consumers whole in cases — for example, a church that paid about $23,000 for window renovations that were never completed. "So raising the cap to $25,000 would have allowed this consumer to be made whole without going to court," he said.

He also described a statutory amendment to make it a crime to offer or accept an undue advantage intended to improperly alter the outcome of a sports wager, language intended to bring existing laws in line with the expansion of sports betting and to cover online cheating. Caffarelli said Connecticut currently has not seen widespread rigging but that the trend has appeared in other jurisdictions and the change aims to provide tools if it occurs here.

Senators asked how the change would affect private civil actions under CUTPA and whether jurisdictional questions could arise if bets or events occur outside Connecticut. Caffarelli said he would follow up on whether administrative restitution limits apply only to agency enforcement and noted the intent is to apply the gaming provision to activity within Connecticut.

The committee took testimony and asked for follow-up clarification; no vote occurred at this hearing.