This Week in Sports Betting News: Arkansas & Maine Make Big Moves
It’s Independence week and a handful of states are expressing their independence by legalizing sports betting. A few states this week have joined the party and are now able to start applying for licensing to offer legal sports betting. Now over 1/3 of the country has some sort of legal sports betting on the books and a majority of the remaining states are at least making some efforts towards legalization.
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Arkansas
Arkansas became the ninth state to officially begin offering legal sports betting. In June, the Arkansas Racing Commission approved Oaklawn Racing Casino Resort to begin accepting bets as of July 1. Oaklawn jumped at that opportunity and took the state of Arkansas’ first legal bet on that day. Southland Gaming & Racing appears to be the next sportsbook in line to open in Arkansas.
Indiana
Earlier this week the state of Indiana released regulations for sports betting. Both in-person, as well as mobile sports betting, will become available in Indiana. Now with regulations posted, gambling facilities can begin their next step towards opening their sportsbooks. It appears that retail sports betting will begin sometime around September with mobile to follow sometime after.
Under the bill:
– Tax rate of 9.5 percent
– Limited in-play betting
– $100,000 vendor licensing fee, $50,000 annual renewal payments
– No wagering on esports or athletes under the age of 18
Illinois
Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed a massive gambling bill into law last week that included legalizing sports betting. It appears that sports betting won’t be around for Illinois residents for at least a few more months, with the end of the NFL season reportedly being a reasonable expectation. That didn’t stop PointsBet from already finding an in-state partner to work with. PointsBet announced a 20-year partnership with Hawthorne Race Course this week.
Tennessee
Sports betting officially became legal as of July 1 in Tennessee. In the mobile-only betting state, licensing rules and wagering regulations are still being created. This may cause sportsbooks to not open until 2020. Anyone that is at least 21-years old and physically located in Tennessee can place a bet once mobile sportsbooks launch.
Maine
It appeared that sports betting was almost a guarantee to be coming to Maine last month when a sports betting bill made its way to Governor Janet Mills. Now, it seems like it won’t be that easy. Mills declined to sign the bill before Monday’s deadline due to concerns over expanding gambling in the state. Now Mills has the option of vetoing the bill within the first three days of the next legislative session. If Mills fails to act within those first three days, the bill would become law. A special session is a possibility, otherwise, Maine could be waiting months for any action on the bill. If Mills chooses to veto the bill, a 2/3 vote in each chamber could overturn her veto. What looked like a promising future for legal sports betting in Maine now looks a bit hazy.
Who Could be Next to Start Taking Bets?
– New York could have sports betting at its upstate casinos as soon as next month. The goal appears to be before the start of the 2019 NFL season.
– Oregon could be right around the corner as well. The Oregon Lottery is looking to launch sports betting soon.
– Montana has no exact timeline just, but mobile and retail sports betting are both expected to launch sometime in 2019.
– Washington D.C. officially has legal sports betting as of May 3, 2019. No sportsbooks are open just yet and no timeline has been set.
– Iowa has set an “aggressive” timeline to have sports betting operational in the state before the start of the 2019 NFL season.
– New Hampshire is still waiting on Governor Chris Sununu’s signature on a sports betting bill that made its way to his desk. At first, it seemed like it was going to be signed by Sununu without issue. Now New Hampshire is looking eerily similar to the situation in Maine.
