Louisiana Sports Betting Nearing Home Stretch; Aim For Fall Launch

Louisiana 1Local Lousiana news station WAFB recently ran a report on where the Louisiana sports betting bill currently stands in Congress. In an interview they conducted with Senator Regina Barrow, she said, “We’re almost at the final stretch.”

This is huge news as many projected Louisiana to take an extreme amount of time passing legislation in regards to sports betting, which was legalized in 55 of the 64 Louisiana parishes in the November election. When it came to legalized DFS, the state took almost two years and had several delays in Congress. However, it looks like sports betting is all systems go to launch in the Fall of 2021, as long as there are no unexpected hiccups in the House.

Where the Bill Currently Stands

The Bill has already done the hard work of passing both the Senate and House. In Louisiana, laws have to pass with a supermajority in both the House and Senate, so getting the votes for House Bill 697 and SB-247 was no easy feat.

Now that the bill has passed the Senate stage, it will need to be debated once again on the House floor as they decide where the tax revenue should go. Currently, legislators are leaning towards early childhood development projects when it comes to how the state should spend the sports betting revenue. Once this is decided upon by the House, the bill will go to Governor John Bel Edwards, who then can choose to sign it into law.

Bill Overview

The Bill that passed both the Senate and House makes way for a possible 41 sportsbook operators. It does so by allowing each one of the 20 gaming facilities in the state to apply for two sports betting skins. The Louisiana Lottery will also receive one skin. This means that there is a possibility of 41 different online sportsbook operators.

The tax in the bill calls for a 10% revenue tax on casinos and 15% on online sports betting. This is a bit on the higher side for online sports betting but is starting to become the norm, based on legislation that has passed recently in states like Maryland.

The legal betting age for sports betting will be the same as the legal wagering age already established in the state, which is 21 years of age. This applies to online and retail sports wagering.

Since not all parishes in the state legalized sports wagering, a player must be physically in a parish with legalized sports betting to set up an account and to wager. You will not be able to bet if you are in one of the nine parishes that has not legalized sports betting.

Possiable Operators

draftkingsmobileappicon-115x115With so many licenses up for grabs, we could and should see all the major sportsbooks attempt to partner with casinos in the state. DraftKings, FanDuel, BetMGM, Caesars, BetRivers, and more will all be looking to get their foot in the door when it comes to Louisiana sports betting. Despite the tricky borders due to some parishes not legalizing, these sportsbooks will want to take advantage of the millions of potential bettors in the state.

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Matthew is a UC Berkeley economic and philosophy graduate. He has played DFS, Football pools, and survival leagues for most of his adult life. Matthew brings to the table great strategies for both your GPP and Cash plays as well as a winning track record with his picks of the week.

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