The Wyoming House March 9 voted down a bill to legalize sports betting and daily fantasy sports, 32-28.
The Wyoming Gaming Commission estimates that the underground sports betting market in the state is as large as $449 million, but some lawmakers were more concerned about gambling addiction that could result from legal gambling.
One lawmaker, Rep. Mark Jennings, read from a section of the state constitution that addresses the duty “to protect and promote health and morality of people.” It continues, “It shall be the duty of the legislature to protect and promote these vital interests by such measures for the encouragement of temperance and virtue, and such restrictions upon vice and immorality of every sort, as are deemed necessary to the public welfare.”
Jennings told lawmakers, “We swore an oath to this. I, for one, take that oath very seriously.”
House Majority Whip Jared Olsen, a supporter of the bill, also cited the constitution, in a passage that says, “Absolute, arbitrary power over the lives, liberty and property of freemen exists nowhere in a republic, not even in the largest majority.”
“Will some betting increase? Probably,” he said. “Is the world going to change tomorrow in Wyoming because of it? I don’t think so. It’s already rampant enough.”
There were monetary arguments in favor of the bill, with one legislator declaring, “I think the greater good is what we can do with the funds that are going to be generated.”
But Rep. Andi Clifford objected because one of the two tribes in her district, the Eastern Shoshone, weren’t part of the discussion. She said she might support similar legislation if tribes were included.
Another lawmakers opposed the mobile aspect of sports betting because it would turn peoples’ homes into betting parlors.
Although such opinions were almost equally divided in the chamber, the nays had slightly more votes.
