Louisiana Campaign Helps Push for Sports Betting

Recently, Louisiana saw a campaign started in their state to help push for legalized sports betting. Louisiana Wins is a campaign that is looking to use the money sports betting would bring in to help underfunded schools, roads, and bridges in the Pelican State.

The campaign will help areas of the state that need funding the most, especially in the COVID-19 pandemic. States have been hit hard with budget deficit’s and Louisiana is another state that needs added revenue streams.

Other states have used gaming and lottery systems to help fund education in their state. The money made by the Virginia Lottery goes right towards K-12 schools. Maryland was the first state to push for schools to receive the sports betting revenue so that the bill could pass.

Now, Louisiana is looking to do the same thing with their school systems and using some of the money for infrastructure projects as well, like fixing roads and bridges.

What is Louisiana Wins?

Louisiana Wins is a non-profit organization looking to help legalize sports betting in the state of Louisiana in return to help underfunded schools and infrastructure throughout the state.

“Louisiana should legalize and tax sports wagering like it does other gaming, keeping that revenue in Louisiana to fund our urgent needs like K-12, early childhood education, or repair our roads and bridges,” Louisiana Wins homepage.

The Pelican State is voting on legalized sports betting November 3, and Louisiana Wins wants to make sure that citizens are voting “yes” that day for sports betting.

The campaign is to help remind people what the money will be used for. States along the gulf are more conservative and view sports betting and gambling differently from more liberal states.

However, if people see what the sports betting revenue is going towards, they could be swayed differently, knowing the money is being used for a good cause. This is where Louisiana Wins comes in with the campaign.

“We are losing as much as $330 million of revenue, even as our residents cross the border to Arkansas and Mississippi for legalized sports betting there.” – Louisiana Wins. The campaign is bringing awareness to how much the state could benefit from legalized sports betting. The money would stay-at-home instead of going to neighboring states.

Will Louisiana Sports Betting Pass?

Louisiana will vote on the sports betting referendum a bit differently than other states. Louisiana’s Parishes, similar to a county, will vote individually if they want to legalize sports betting.

In 2018, Louisiana passed a Daily Fantasy Sports referendum, 47 of the 64 Parishes saying yes. Sports betting should be no different this time around. However, the actual launch of sports betting will be even trickier if it’s passed in November.

DFS is still not operating in the Pelican State as the bill has been tied up for almost two years now. The same thing could happen with sports betting, as it would need to be passed two more times before officially launching in Louisiana. One bill would be about the regulations of sports betting, and the other would be the taxes.

Overall, passing the first part of the bill looks promising for the state. If DFS passed in 2018, then this should pass in November. The challenge will be how long it takes for Louisiana lawmakers to pass the next two bills.