Minnesota lawmakers will consider the Safe and Regulated Sports Gambling Act of 2019, authored by state Rep. Pat Garofalo, which would legalize in-person betting on professional and collegiate games at tribal casinos; mobile betting would not be allowed. In addition, the measure calls for taxing sports books at 0.5 percent of handle, rather than on profits. It’s the third sports betting bill with tribal exclusivity.
Garofalo said he’s been talking to tribal leaders about the legislation. “These conversations have been going on for close to a year. We’ve addressed the concerns people have brought forward to us. We hope this will be enough to get us across the finish line and begin that process of having these compacts negotiated.” He added, “I’ve got to be honest. My goal is to get the bill passed, so I made the concession of taking mobile off the table. All the controversy has been removed from this bill, so it really will just be a matter of public opinion.”
Last month, the Minnesota Indian Gaming Association wrote to Governor Tim Walz, explaining most tribal members oppose gambling expansion, including off-reservation casinos and sports betting in the state. The group said it would prefer a “careful study” of the issue. MIGA Executive Director John McCarthy said, “Our major concern is the mobile gambling. We’ve been fighting that forever. Why would you get up on a 20-below-zero-day and come out to the casino when you could just sit at home. We’re not opposed in any way to sports betting as an activity, but we are concerned about what mobile leads to.”
State Rep. Nick Zerwas said, “God help us if on a Vikings-Packers Sunday game, Minnesotans have to go into Wisconsin to bet on the game. That would be crazy. So we need to act responsibly but quickly.”
However, McCarthy said, “We don’t think Garofalo’s bill is going to fly at the legislature because of exclusivity. Bar owners and other restaurant owners are going to have a fit.”
Also in Minnesota, state. Rep. Carrie Ruud and state Rep. Dale Lueck announced they co-wrote bills that would lower tax rates for charitable gambling, which would affect pulltabs, bingo and paddlewheels. Both bills are awaiting further action in their respective chambers.
Ruud said the bill is “a little aggressive, but if you don’t ask, you don’t get.” Lueck added, “This has been a long-term problem. We’re taking a huge amount of dollars out of the local community, out of nonprofits. They just take it and it goes to the Minnesota Department of Revenue and into the general fund, where it goes to pay for the new Vikings stadium.”
According to the 2018 Gambling Control Board Organization Annual Report, 340 charities, or 30 percent of charitable gambling organizations in Minnesota, pay more in fees and taxes to the state than to their own operations. The state is expected to receive $95 million in 2019; this tax generated $40 million in 2013. Ruud and Lueck said building U.S. Bank stadium was one reason the tax has skyrocketed. The $1.1 billion project opened in 2016, subsidized by $498 in public funds.
Now that it has opened, Lueck said there’s no reason to continue to penalize nonprofits. “It’s way beyond what is necessary for the Vikings stadium. Are we so petty in the state of Minnesota that we’re going to tax the daylights out of volunteer labor? Give me a break.”
