Although a bill was introduced in February in the Arizona Senate to legalize sports betting, it was never voted out of committee.
The Grand Canyon State remains one of 28 that have not legalized wagering on sports. Senate Bill 1525, co-sponsored by Senator Sonny Borrelli, would do that, with gaming tribes having exclusive rights.
Borrelli says of his bill, “There is a good, happy medium where we are not stepping on tribal toes.” He adds, “Because it could be done in such a way where everybody should be able to share and everybody could prosper.”
A major sticking point is that the Arizona Tribal-State Gaming Compact of 2002 requires unanimous consent of the tribes to add to the compact. Borrelli told Cronkite News, “It comes down to the gaming compact and how flexible it is. The first step is getting the tribes to be on board with it, and then you have to go through the state side of it.”
When the compact was adopted, it included 16 of the state’s 22 federally recognized tribes. It did not include the very largest, the Navajo, which didn’t enter gaming until 2006.
The Navajo Nation is interested in participating in sports betting as a way of expanding its casino offerings, says its legal counsel attorney Steven Hart.
State Rep. Steve Pierce is working with Borrelli to push the idea that sports betting would generate needed revenue. “It would be another source of revenue for the state,” he said. “A lot of people want it; they’re doing it anyway.” He is referring to the vast untapped black market of betting on sports that has no government oversight.
Borrelli’s bill doesn’t mention online gaming, which has proven the major driver for sportsbook revenues in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, the first states to legalize sports betting after the U.S. Supreme Court lifted the federal ban on it. According to Adam Candee, managing editor of Legal Sports Report, “They are now averaging 90 percent of their bets each month being placed online.”
Despite the challenges Covid-19 has imposed on passing legislation this year, Rep. Pierce is convinced Arizona will soon adopt a sports betting bill. He joined Borrelli in March in proposing House Bill 2813, which duplicated many things in Borrelli’s bill but also allowed commercial and Indian casinos to offer retail sportsbook.
That bill was passed out of committee, only to fall victim to coronavirus concerns. It is tabled, although it could become active—although probably not until next year. Pierce told Cronkite News, “. . . I’ve heard that bills like this that were ready to go to the floor and the virus came for the next session they might be put on a fast track to get out in front of all the other bills.”
