Minnesota introduces sports betting bill
Legislation proposed by Karla Bingham and Jeremy Miller would legalise both retail and remote sports betting.
US.- Lawmakers in Minnesota have presented a bipartisan bill which would permit the regulation of sports wagering at the state’s casinos and racetracks.
Senate Bill 410, which was introduced by Karla Bingham and Jeremy Miller, would see sports betting operators issued one-year licences.
Bets would be taxed at 6 per cent for land-based operators and 8 per cent for remote operators. The revenue would go to the state’s general fund, with 0.5 per cent going towards compulsive gambling assistance programmes.
Bingham said “[Sports betting] is already done flagrantly and it’s time to shine some light on it, put some guardrails around it, protections around it. Quite honestly, we need to legalise it.”
A sports betting bill was introduced in 2019, but Minnesota’s 11 tribes opposed the move arguing that expanding off-reservation gambling would threaten their essential revenues.
Senate majority leader Paul Gazelka believe that delays to the bill’s course are likely due to the complexities of holding a legislative session during the pandemic and trying to pass a new two-year state budget. He said sports betting is more likely to be a topic for the 2022 agenda.
Casinos continue to suffer the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic in the US. Minnesota’s tribal casinos took the decision to reopen their casino doors ahead of the state’s timeline with various sanitary measures in place.
