With the South Dakota House State Affairs Committee’s defeat of a mobile sports betting bill, more than 6,700 state residents were blocked from placing Super Bowl wagers on their mobile phones.
Data from GeoComply showed nearly 70 percent of the blocked South Dakota bets placed ahead of the Super Bowl on February 14 were made by individuals trying to access sportsbooks in Iowa.
Senate Joint Resolution 502, which proposed a constitutional amendment to allow mobile sports betting, earlier passed the Senate but was rejected by the House committee in a 13-10 vote. Prior to the vote, committee members heard from proponents, like Dakota Gaming Group’s BETKOTA, who noted South Dakota is missing out on millions of dollars in revenue by banning online sports wagering, which is legal in neighboring Wyoming and Iowa.
The committee also heard from representatives of Governor Kristi Noem’s administration and the conservative Family Heritage Alliance, who expressed concerns over problem gambling. In addition, Deputy Revenue Secretary David Wiest stated when voters approved sports wagering in 2020, they didn’t expect it to occur beyond the city of Deadwood. He said expanding sports betting only adds to the profits of out-of-state sports betting companies like DraftKings, FanDuel and Bet MGM. Comparing gambling to murder and theft, Wiest said, “Those folks are obviously sports betting companies, but they are multi-billion-dollar sports betting companies. They’re the ones that are behind it.”
State Senator Kyle Schoenfish said Wiest’s statements were “misleading.” He commented, “We need to be honest and acknowledge the vote today did nothing to stop any type of gambling going on today or in the future as South Dakotans can quickly and easily place their wagers online or in neighboring states.”
Supporters of online sports betting said if lawmakers don’t soon approve it, a citizen-led ballot initiative is likely to be organized.
