The most recent iteration of an Arizona sports betting bill that would allow tribal casinos and professional sports venues to accept the wagers is now dead in the water.
A “strike everything” amendment to SB 1293, filed March 25, didn’t advance due to a typo in the text. “Strike everything” is a technical legislative term that means a bill’s content is stripped and something else substituted. The bill in question started as a refrigerated products bill on the agenda for the House Appropriations Committee.
The typo made the language say that any pro sports venue with more than 150 attendees per year (instead of the intended 150,000 attendees) was eligible for a sports betting license. The amendment’s language had been intended to make Phoenix Raceway eligible for sports betting.
This alarmed the gaming tribes, and so the bill’s progress hit a wall. The tribes felt this was a way to get around the tribal compact amendment they have already negotiated with Governor Doug Ducey.
The tribes had earlier been spooked by an attempt by some lawmakers to mix sports betting with historical horse racing, which they consider would violate their compacts. Supporters of the historical horse racing proposal have pulled back on it to allow sports betting to go forward undiluted with more controversy.
Some lawmakers feel that the waters have been so muddied that Ducey’s compact deal may have to be postponed until 2022. The current session ends April 24.
