Seven-term Minnesota Rep. Pat Garafolo is a booster for sports betting in his state, although he’s only cautiously optimistic right now that his proposal will get a vote when the legislature begins meeting again in January.
Garafolo loves to bet on sports and wants people in his state to be able to do it legally, using mobile devices, although he opposes other types of online casino games.
He told the Great Time Podcast last week “We need flexible legislation that works for everyone. We have to have a low-tax, low-fee environment. We just can’t go in and tax the snot out of this industry. The illegal sports betting market is very robust, so we have to have the right kind of regulations to compete with that.”
Nothing will happen, he says unless the disparate interests that include tribal gaming and charitable gaming, cooperate. “There’s money to be made, but it’s not like slot machines. Margins are small, in the neighborhood of five percent. It’s a high-volume industry, but a low-margin industry.”
Besides mobile betting, the representative is interested in exploring wagering kiosks in bars. Garafolo warns that if a bipartisan consensus can’t be made that sports betting will be stuck in cement. He urges his fellows in the legislature to act in time for next year’s NFL season. “We have to make that happen,” told the podcast audience.
A host of lobbyists representing major league sports such as the NBA and the PGA Tour have registered to push their concern for an “integrity fee” that would give them a cut of the action for sports betting, as well as some of the tribes that operate the state’s 40 casinos.
The charitable gaming industry accounts for more than $2 billion each year. It too will be fielding lobbyists. Its games include pull-tabs, paddlewheels, bingo and raffles.
