Minnesota Proposes Sports Betting & Online Gambling Bill
Minnesota Capital Saint Paul
As sports betting had its biggest ever day with the Super Bowl last Sunday another state is pushing for legislation to join the party.
Minnesota has sports betting bills going through the Senate and House however the new bill would include bricks and mortar sports betting and also online gambling in the forms of casinos and poker.
The main beneficiaries would be tribes in the state as the wording would allow tribal casinos and two horseracing tracks to be permitted to offer in person and online gambling.
The sponsor of the latest bill Assistant Senate Majority Leader Roger Chamberlain said of the new proposal “We are an island in the Midwest and not the tropical kind,” he went on to say, “This proposal is good for tribes, it’s good for tracks, and most importantly, it gives Minnesotans gaming options at brick and mortar locations and online vendors. It respects the Tribal Nations and provides a revenue stream to the state. There is no reason we shouldn’t start with this proposal and see it through to the end.”
The state is surrounded by sports betting in other states and although with a population of 5.7 million ranking it the 22nd most populous state in the country it all adds up in state coffers.
Roger Chamberlain said on this, “This is not a big cash cow; this is about consumers and customers and having some fun and legalizing a legitimate form of entertainment for the state of Minnesota and its consumers.”
The latest bill has no wording to cover the taxation for sports betting and interestingly the Minnesota tribes were opposed to sports betting up until late November 2021 where they seemed to have a change of heart. This came on the back of a major war by the tribes and charity pull tab operators in the state, one that the tribes failed to win in opposing the charity focused gambling as it appeared to be electronic and not the original form of pull tab gaming.
With that loss the eleven tribes in the state now want in on sports betting, there is a meeting with state lawmakers and tribes next month to thrash out the finer details of any proposed sports betting bill.
