Even with the rush to legalize sports betting across the United States, there are still some states that aren’t quite ready.
For the second year in a row, sports betting legislation did not pass in Missouri. One of the main causes of the failure of House Bill 2502, observers said, was its proposed 10 percent tax on sports wagering revenue.
By comparison, Missouri casinos are taxed at 21 percent. Mike Leara, chair of the Missouri Gaming Commission, said, “What caught my attention initially was the tax rate being so much lower than the current tax on gaming in the state.”
The bill, introduced by state Rep. Dan Houx, would have allowed 39 skins, including 33 for the state’s 13 casinos and six for Missouri’s professional sports teams. The measure easily passed the House, 115 to 33, but encountered problems in the Senate where state Senator Denny Hoskins sponsored a competing bill increasing the tax rate to 21 percent for sports wagering revenue.
Hoskins also led a late-night filibuster of HB 2502 on the Senate floor and attempted to include language regulating video lottery terminals. His bill didn’t come to the Senate floor for a vote as the session ended May 12. Leara noted, “It’s interesting with all of the major sports or professional sports teams in the state in support of the bill, that they did not have a little more success in lobbying the Senate to move the bill forward.”
Leara said initial projections for revenue the state would receive from sports wagering were around $9 million annually. “I think that is a conservative number,” he said. Neighboring Illinois has collected $120.49 million in tax revenue since sports betting launched in March 2019.
In Oklahoma, legislation failed that would have allowed tribes to offer sports betting, with revenue going to public school funding. The House sponsor, state Rep. Ken Luttrell, said there “wasn’t any appetite for it” in the state Senate, primarily due to “moral issues.” He emphasized the failure of the bill had nothing to do with the ongoing feud between Governor Kevin Stitt and tribal leaders. Luttrell noted Stitt actually publicly voice support for the bill.
The Oxford Economics Group estimated legal sports betting would generate $240 million in new revenue for the state, Luttrell said. “We’re missing millions of dollars in revenue each week. Oklahomans are sports bettors whether they’re doing it online, under the table or journeying out of state placing their bets. We should be participating in that income and using that revenue for public education and for core services.”
Luttrell said he believes adding sports betting is not expanding gaming; it’s simply adding another approved form of gambling to what’s already in state statutes.
“It makes good economic sense, and I think maybe in an off-election year, we’ll have a better chance of getting it moved through both sides of the Capitol,” he said.
Luttrell noted some Oklahoma tribes want to operate their own online betting operations due to higher profits. However, he said, “My intention here is to put people into the casinos, people in the seats, enjoying the amenities, dining, drinking, gaming if they want to.” Luttrell said he’ll introduce a similar measure again next year
The Senate author, state Senator Bill Coleman, said the bill wasn’t met with “much excitement” when he first proposed it to fellow Senate Republicans.
Oklahoma Indian Gaming Association Chairman Matthew Morgan said, “I don’t think anybody had the expectation that something was going to zoom through the legislature and get finished. But it was a good starting point to bring people to the table and start talking about what that may look like and to see where people stood.”
In Minnesota, the Senate Finance Committee moved HF 788 to the floor with little chance of passage before the legislative session ends Monday, May 23. The House previously passed the bill, 70-57, which would have exclusively allowed Minnesota tribes to open sportsbooks and to partner with online sports betting operators.
But state Senator Roger Chamberlain added an amendment to include horse racetracks, stating that would help bring competition to the market. The tribes oppose allowing racetracks or professional sports teams to offer sports wagering. If the Senate bill passes, it would need to go back to the House for changes or be referred to a conference committee. Chamberlain said, “We can’t have maybe two licenses in the state and hope for others. You need to have a healthy market of different odds and different prices.”
The Minnesota Indian Gaming Association, which represents 10 of 11 tribes, sent a letter to the Senate committee expressing opposition to the amendment. The organization supported HF 788 during House committee meetings; in the past, the state’s tribes worked to kill sports betting legislation. Chamberlain told the committee he discussed his amendment with tribal leaders, who said they’d work toward a compromise. But that seems to not agree with MIGA’s letter.
Online and on-site wagering revenue would be taxed at 10 percent. Chamberlain said the bill would generate $10 million to 20 million in annual tax revenue.
Only two racetracks operate in Minnesota: Canterbury Park in Shakopee and Running Aces Casino & Racetrack in Columbus. Observers said allowing two more sports betting apps, bringing the total from 13 to 15, would not have a large impact on the tribes; what matters is the issue of exclusivity.
However, Douglas Franzen, a lobbyist for Running Aces, said excluding the racetracks from sports betting would cause them significant harm. He noted the racetracks also offer card clubs with table games like poker and blackjack. Franzen stated table game revenue has declined in states with legal sports betting.
“If competition is good, which I believe it is,” he says, “it makes a ton of sense to include the two tracks on equal terms with the tribes. Our position is not anti-sports betting, it is not anti-tribes. But this exclusion could be our downfall.”
Senate Majority Leader Jeremy Miller said, “I’ve long been a supporter of sports betting. There’s no one at the capitol that would like to see it get done more than me. We need the stakeholders to get together. If the tribes and the tracks can come together and sort of work towards an agreement, I’m confident that we can get bipartisan support for the sports betting bill. But until that happens, it’s going to be challenging to get enough votes to get it passed.”
A recent KTSP/Survey USA poll indicated 64 percent of Minnesotans support sports betting.
