Two new states are now considering legalizing sports betting, but in one state, it’s most likely dead on arrival.
Florida, a state with a bipolar approach to gaming, might have a crack at legalizing sports betting via the state’s lottery. But a trio of bills filed in the state legislature last week seem unlikely to dodge political landmines and other powerful forces.
Here’s the gist of the proposed legislation:
- Sports betting would be done via the lottery and additional licensees authorized by the lottery. It would allow for online betting
- A license fee costs $100,000
- Licensees would pay a tax rate of 15 percent of revenue
Florida lawmakers worked on sports betting legislation last year, but it had been held up in negotiations between the state and the Seminole Tribe, which operates casinos under a compact.
The new effort might represent a path to getting it done without the tribe’s approval, although such a tack could be fraught with peril given how politically powerful the Seminoles are in the state, according to LegalSportsReport.com.
The Seminoles maintain they have exclusivity over sports betting in the state, an idea that hasn’t been challenged in practice. The tribe is currently not paying the state because of an ongoing legal battle. The newest proposed budget does not include money from Seminole casinos.
There’s also the matter of Amendment 3, which passed last November: The amendment requires Florida voters to authorize any new forms of casino gaming.
An argument can be made that sports betting is not casino gaming, but it creates yet another issue in an already complicated situation. The state has tried on multiple occasions to legalize daily fantasy sports as well, but those efforts have largely been thwarted by the Seminoles, along with their partner, the Disney Corp.
Legalizing sports betting without the Seminoles’ blessing would seem a non-starter and create even more bad blood as the state hopes for payments from the tribe’s gambling facilities to resume in the future.
While sports betting has expanded rapidly around the U.S.—19 states have legal betting live or will launch next year—progress has been difficult to come by in the some of the largest states in the union. The list includes New York, California and Texas. Throw in Florida and that’s more than 100 million people without access to legal online betting.
The primary bill, SB 968, stands little chance of passing. “Sports betting happening in Florida without the blessing of the Seminole tribe is about as likely as a Giants Super Bowl victory this year,” John Holden, assistant professor, Spears School of Business at Oklahoma State, told SportsHandle.com.
It’s not just the Seminoles that stand in the way. Entertainment giant Disney will likely flex its muscle to prevent expanded gaming, as it did when it partnered with the Seminoles to support Amendment 3.
In Kentucky, meanwhile, state Rep. Adam Koenig recently announced he’ll re-file his sports betting bill before the 2020 legislative session starting in January. Last year Koenig’s bill, which would legalize sports betting, online poker and fantasy sports, passed the House Licensing, Occupations and Administrative Regulations Committee, which he chairs. But the bill didn’t go to a vote before the session ended.
Koenig said he hasn’t yet spoken with Governor-elect Andy Beshear about his sports wagering bill, but Beshear made expanded gaming a key point of his campaign platform. “This is an opportunity for the new governor and I to work together to get something passed,” Koenig said.
Anti-gaming Governor Matt Bevin, who lost to Beshear, officially conceded after a re-canvass confirmed he lost by 5,000 votes.
Koenig’s previous bill would have allowed the state’s seven horseracing tracks and the Kentucky Motor Speedway to apply for sports betting licenses.
Since it failed, Illinois, Indiana and Tennessee have passed sports betting legislation. Billboards and ads promoting Indiana sportsbooks and mobile wagering have appeared throughout the Louisville area. Koenig noted, “A lot of other states jumped on the bandwagon and have been having a lot of luck and success. It’s a big change and not a lot of changes get passed in the first year. We’ve had some more time to educate folks. All of that will lead to a higher probability of success.”
Koenig’s 2020 bill keeps most of the earlier bill’s proposals but would remove the ban on in-state college sports betting. It also would allow mobile sports betting but would require customers to open an account at a retail sportsbook.
State Senator and former Governor Julian Carroll has already pre-filed a bill allowing racetracks and the Kentucky Lottery to offer sports betting. His bill faces challenges since he’s one of just nine Democrats in the 38-seat Senate.
Koenig, like Beshear, supports casino gaming but acknowledges legislative support is lacking. In fact, during the gubernatorial campaign, Senate leaders said any casino gaming measure would not get a vote in during the 2020 session. Beshear wants to legalize casinos and use the tax revenue to help fund the state’s public employee pensions.
Currently four historical horseracing gambling establishments operate in Kentucky, and owners have plans for more. Koenig said he opposes raising taxes on the machines; he said he has told his colleagues if they want to raise the taxes on the machines they can legalize casinos. “Then you can tax them as such,” he said.
Speaking of Indiana, in October, the second month of legalized sports betting, gamblers in the state wagered $91.7 million—nearly three times as much as the $34.5 million in bets placed in September, according to the Indiana Gaming Commission.
The difference: mobile betting, which launched on October 3 and drew $48 million in wagers for the month; bets made at casino sportsbooks or kiosks totaled $43.7 million. For the month, the state benefited from $1 million in sports betting taxes, up from $800,000 in September.
Football brought in the majority of bets at more than $41 million, followed by baseball at $10.5 million in bets. More than half the sports bets placed in October were placed at Ameristar Casino in East Chicago. It was among the first casinos to launch mobile sports wagering in partnership with DraftKings. More than $39 million of the casino’s $46.2 million total wagers were placed via its mobile app. “We have been pleased thus far,” said Jeff Morris, a spokesman for Ameristar owner Penn National Gaming.
Hammond Horseshoe Casino Vice President and Assistant General Manager Noah Hirsch said the casino is working with its owner Caesars Entertainment to develop a mobile sports betting app. “Our guests are eagerly awaiting that and we’re definitely encouraged by the numbers that mobile is putting up in Indiana. We’ll definitely want to have a piece of that as well,” Hirsch said.
Slots and table games at Indiana casinos generated revenue of $34 million in September and $38 million in October.
