The Minnesota legislative session for 2024 begins on February 12. If the lawmakers don’t want to close the session without approving sports betting, they better make some changes.
To that end comes state Senator Jeremy Miller, who plans to introduce the Minnesota Sports Betting Act 2.0, according to Yogonet Gaming News.
The bill offers the 11 tribal nations the opportunity to submit mobile and retail licenses. The proposal carries a 15 percent tax rate on revenue, which goes towards relief for local charities. The legislation also brings back free plays and bonus games on electronic pull-tabs, a charitable option in the state which was deleted from prior legislation.
Miller sees the legislative alterations as a way for lawmakers to advance the bill without the bickering and accusatory rhetoric of prior years.
“Changes made to electronic pull tabs last session raised significant concerns from charities across the state. Restoring some of the functions that were eliminated in last year’s omnibus tax bill would address some of their concerns,” Miller told FOX 9.
In 2023, some lawmakers supported exclusivity for the tribes both in their casinos and for partnerships with mobile app vendors.
“This updated proposal combines ideas from my original Minnesota Sports Betting Act along with provisions from other sports betting bills that were introduced last session,” Miller told WCCO News. “The goal of this proposal is to bring folks together to work toward a bipartisan solution to legalize sports betting in Minnesota.”
In 2023, there were multiple bills, but they differed on key points, including the level to which the state’s tribes, which own casinos, would also have exclusive access to state sports betting licenses for operation.
License holders would have the option to operate retail betting on the premises of horse racing tracks or professional sports stadiums in Minnesota. Tax revenue would provide relief for local charities, attract sporting events, give a lift to horse racing, provide charitable gaming tax relief for local charities, fund problem gambling programs and fund youth sports.
Last year, Senator Matt Klein introduced an amendment to allow the horse racing tracks to take a percentage of sports gambling revenue. Consider it a make up law to compensate the tracks for being cut out of operating sportsbooks.
“Minnesota continues to miss out on what is now a $100 billion industry,“ Miller said in a statement. “The goal of this proposal is to bring folks together to work toward a bipartisan solution to legalize sports betting in Minnesota. I strongly believe we can get it done this year.”
Tribes and tracks negotiate their own part, based on elements pushed a year ago by the Democrat-Farmer-Laborer (DFL).
The DFL commands both chambers of the legislature and indicates that sports wagers are a priority. In short, Minnesota features the DFL and tribes against the GOP and the tracks. Under a DFL proposal the tribal nations have exclusive rights to sports betting while tracks and tribes hammer out a revenue sharing plan.
The latest proposal adds sportsbooks for tracks, a move supported by the industry. Still, the two sides stand far apart.
A bipartisan agreement on sports betting is likely to break the logjam.
Miller’s proposal includes:
- Licenses for 11 tribes
- Partnerships with horse racing tracks and professional sports stadiums for in-person sportsbooks
- 15 percent tax rate on sports betting revenue
Professional sports teams supported tribal exclusivity in a letter to legislators last session.
Rep. Zack Stephenson has led the DFL sports betting push over the past two sessions. His base proposal includes:
- 11 tribes receive sports betting exclusivity
- 10 percent tax on sports betting revenue
- No in-person sportsbooks at commercial entities
After Stephenson’s bill stalled out in the House, Senator Matt Klein picked up the issue late in the session.
Klein amended the Senate version to give 30 percent of sports betting tax revenue to the tracks. While the tribes are amenable to the revenue-share idea, the 2023 session ended without an agreement.
The tracks want full licensing in Minnesota, something tribal nations might oppose.
“We appreciate Senator Miller recognizing the importance of the horse racing industry to Minnesota and appreciate that racetracks are included as the sports betting process moves forward,” Canterbury Park spokesperson Jeff Maday said in a statement to LSR. “Both groups should have the authority to meet their customers’ interest in sports betting. We believe that full licenses should be authorized for both tribal casinos and racetracks.”
Despite opposition from many quarters last year, DFL leadership seems to be on board this session.
“If the Minnesota legislature was a football game, we’re like two minutes before the end of the first half, and then we’ll have an interim,” House Speaker Melissa Hortman said at the end of last session when asked if the issue was dead. “We’ll go home, we will rest and recover, and we’ll work on a lot of these bills during the interim, and we’ll come back and have another session,”
