The legislators of North Carolina, Missouri, and Minnesota are finding how challenging it can be to bring sports betting legislation to their state. All three are experiencing challenges.
In North Carolina, the betting bill got through the House fairly easily, but has been mired in the Senate for almost a month.
The bill breezed through four committee hearings and three readings in days and passed with a 64-45 vote. It was sent to the Senate on March 29 and members of the Upper House have done nothing.
About the only good news for the sports betting bill is that it has cleared the crossover deadline of May 4. The legislative session doesn’t end until August 31, so lawmakers still have plenty of time to get it before the senators for a vote.
The goal is to launch sports betting in the state on January 8, 2024.
One group that is eager to see the bill pass are the 10 college universities that would receive $300,000 annually to help pay for struggling athletic programs.
The schools that would benefit are: Elizabeth City State, Fayetteville State, N.C. A&T, N.C. Central, UNC Asheville, UNC Greensboro, UNC Pembroke, UNC Wilmington, Western Carolina and Winston-Salem State.
In Missouri, one state senator is showing how powerful—and disruptive—he can be when it comes to trying to pass sports betting. Sen. Denny Hoskins performed an eight-hour filibuster on the Senate floor to try and kill SB30.
Ironically, Hoskins is in favor of sports betting in the Show Me State. What he wants, though, is to have video lottery terminals included in the bill. VLTs are unregulated slot machine-like devices placed in gas stations and convenience stores. He is willing to let sports betting die if they aren’t included.
That has drawn the ire of fellow lawmakers and one professional sports team executive.
St. Louis Cardinals President Bill DeWitt III was extremely critical of Hoskins. The Major League Baseball team would be able to partner with sportsbook operators if the bill was passed.
DeWitt told the Missouri Times last week that Hoskins’ actions were “childish.”
“I would describe it as an extremely high level of frustration with not being able to bring this to a vote,” he said. “We have an issue that is extremely popular with our fans, popular with the politicians, and it’s blocked because others wanna hitch a ride on our wagon, and they have enough clout to bully their way onto the bill. They won’t get what they want, but I guess they don’t care that we don’t get anything either. It is really childish behavior.”
The bill now sits in the Senate Appropriations Committee, that Hoskins is a member of, and chances of it passing are getting slimmer by the day. There are about three weeks until the end of the legislative session.
If nothing happens and the bill dies in committee, many believe proponents will have to wait until Hoskins’ term ends in 2024 and he has termed out, meaning he can no longer run for reelection. That would mean Missouri wouldn’t get sports betting until 2025 at the earliest.
Minnesota is dealing with a similar situation in its attempt to bring sports betting to the state. There are some that would like to see horse racing tracks have the ability to host sports betting.
That is proving difficult because the state’s Native American tribes have casino gaming exclusivity in the state. The tribes have been successful in blocking previous attempts to bring commercial entities in, such as professional sports teams.
This year, pro sports teams in Minnesota said they supported a tribal-exclusive sports betting framework. Horse racing tracks haven’t been as cooperative and have several lawmakers in favor of writing an amendment in Rep. Zack Stephenson’s legislation.
The Minnesota Indian Gaming Association still stands firm in its belief that they should be the only group associated with sports betting.
“Gaming revenues produce the essential tax base Tribes rely on to fund basic and essential government services for thousands of tribal members,” a MIGA statement read earlier this year. “Any time a state changes the gaming landscape, tribes must carefully consider whether such proposals strengthen or, in fact, threaten tribal sovereignty and self-determination.”
Now with the Minnesota Legislature set to adjourn May 22, sports betting legislation might have to wait until next year.
