With sports betting legislation already in progress, it appears that Minnesota residents are ready for the industry to arrive–according to a recent study by local outlet KSTP with help from SurveyUSA, over 60 percent of respondents said that they support the state’s legalization of sports betting.
Additionally, 17 percent opposed the industry and the remaining 19 percent were neutral or undecided. The poll consisted of 650 total respondents and was conducted earlier this month.
The poll comes as multiple gambling initiatives are making their way through the state legislature, including a sports betting proposal currently being heard in the state Senate. The momentum for legalization has reportedly been strong in the state since the U.S. Supreme Court voted against a previous anti-gaming law in 2018 that affected many states, including Minnesota. .
Steven Schier, an analyst from Carleton College, told KTSP that the recent results “really do suggest that there’s a lot of public momentum for sports betting.”
All of that being said, Minnesotans will eventually have to sort through multiple options as far as rollout and accessibility.
The sticking point right now is how and where existing state horse tracks and Native American casinos will get involved, as the same survey mentioned above also showed that respondents are split in terms of where gaming will be permitted.
According to the survey, over 50 percent of those polled are in favor of allowing sports betting at both tracks and tribal casinos, while 9 percent and 7 percent only want it at either tracks and casinos, respectively. One-fifth of respondents are still unsure.
Tribal casinos have shown an interest in the expansion of the gaming industry so long as they are prominently featured, and Minnesota Indian Gaming Association director Andy Platto told a House committee in March that state tribes are the “gaming experts best positioned to operate Minnesota’s sports betting market.”
Meanwhile, state Republicans, such as Sen. Roger Chamberlain, are keen to include state horse tracks in any gaming expansion in order to keep the industry afloat and help the state economy overall.
When Chamberlain introduced his sports betting bill to the state Senate, he touted it as being good for everyone–good for tracks, tribes and most importantly, “good for the consumers.”
