Louisiana, Maryland, and South Dakota Pass Sports Betting Bills
Although the Presidential Election was not decided on Tuesday night, three states decided to legalize sports betting last night, expanding the U.S. sports betting market.
Louisiana, Maryland, and South Dakota all passed sports betting bills sweeping the board. All three states will most likely launch sports betting sometime in 2021.
19 states, including Washington D.C., currently have legal sports betting. Now, Louisiana, Maryland, and South Dakota, along with Virginia, North Carolina, and Washington, will be added to the list sometime in 2021. Before next year is over, there is a chance that half of the country has legalized sports betting.
Hawaii, Kansas, Massachusetts, Nebraska, Ohio, and Vermont also have bills working its way through Congress and could also join the list before next year is over. Yesterday was a big day for the sports betting industry as it continues to grow in the U.S.
What Are the Next Steps?
Louisiana
55 of the 64 Louisiana Parishes passed sports betting. State lawmakers will now decide how to regulate the new industry, which could take longer than Louisiana bettors would like. Regardless, the overwhelming majority voted in favor of sports betting on Tuesday.
Louisiana could have a tough time with regulations as some conservative lawmakers had a major push against sports betting. The state also legalized daily fantasy sports in 2018, and then back in forth in regulations has not allowed for that gaming industry to launch. The same thing could happen to sports betting.
Louisiana lawmakers will not start discussing sports betting regulations until they are back in session in April 2021. Sports betting would most likely not start until at least football season if all goes well-discussing regulations.
Maryland
Maryland voters saw an overwhelming majority come in on “yes” to sports betting. The count was 2-1 in favor of sports betting when around 75% of the votes were in last night. The state will now decide on how to regulate the industry when Congress heads back to session.
Estimates believe the state could see around $18 million in revenue from sports betting. According to reports, the state will tax sports betting at a 20% clip and give 19% to education and 1% to the minority business enterprise program.
The sports betting campaign led by DraftKings and FanDuel paid off in Maryland and will be launching as soon as the industry is ready to go.
South Dakota
South Dakota was the one state where legalized sports betting was up in the air. Well, as of Wednesday morning, there was no sweat as the state passed it 59%-41%, with 90% of the votes in. Sports betting will become legal in Deadwood, along with the 11 tribal casinos being allowed to launch sports betting at the casinos.
The biggest curveball with betting in South Dakota is the potential for online sports betting. At first, it looked like only in-person sports wagering would be allowed in Deadwood, along with the tribal casinos.
Now, there is a chance that sports betting operators could set up shop in Deadwood and then launch mobile betting across the state. This will be something to watch once the state starts to create regulations.
