Sports betting odds improve in Minnesota
The chances that Minnesota will legalize sports betting increased considerably on Tuesday. Its political supporters negotiated a deal with one of the largest groups opposed to the open-book bill.
(FOX9) – The chances that Minnesota will legalize sports betting increased considerably on Tuesday.
Its political supporters negotiated a deal with one of the largest groups opposed to the open-book bill.
House authors told FOX 9 the deal makes the bill more likely to pass a divided Congress.
Electronic pull tabs are scheduled to be phased out next year under a 2023 law that eliminates open-all options. Tribal casinos argued that the games were too similar to slot machines. The same tribe wants the state to lift the ban on sports betting in casinos.
Charitable gaming organizations that receive large sums of money from pull tabs campaigned against the move until Tuesday.
“We're still figuring out how to put the pieces of the puzzle in place to make sense for everyone,” said Rep. Zach Stephenson, DFL Coon Rapids. “We're making good progress. This is a big step in the right direction. We're not close to the end yet.”
The House and Senate have now agreed to increase the tax rate on sports betting from 10% to 20%.
Stephenson used some of that extra revenue to negotiate an agreement that would give charitable gaming a tax break to help offset losses from pull tabs.
“Right now, for every dollar spent on bar pull tabs, more money is flowing into the country in the form of taxes than goes to supporting things like youth hockey and veteran services,” he said.
However, obstacles remain to passing the bill.
Some members of both parties don't want gambling to expand.
And the state's racetracks remain opposed to the bill.
Running Ace CEO Taro Ito said the racetrack has offered sports betting for 39 years, but the bill would exclude it.
“Horsetracks must be fairly compensated to make up for the loss of business from tribal sports betting,” he said.
The Senate bill proposes tracking 5% of state tax revenue from sports betting.
And Stevenson said he is trying to thread the needle to get enough bipartisan support to overcome the biggest remaining hurdle.
“I think it’s trying to fit into a larger budget puzzle for racetracks, problem games and the state as a whole,” said Rep. Stevenson.
The new House bill will have a hearing on Thursday, but as Stevenson said, there's still a long way to go from there.
