Sports Betting Officially Legal. Beginning of Football Szn target start date

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Sports betting in Louisiana is coming after John Bel Edwards signs bill into law

Sports betting is on the way in Louisiana as Gov. John Bel Edwards signed the legislation Tuesday to create the protocols and regulation of wagering on sporting events and how the proceeds will be spent.

With Edwards’ signature on Senate Bill 247 and Senate Bill 142, all the elements are place for Louisiana casinos to apply for the necessary licenses, build the sports book parlors for in-person betting and line up the contractors to handle wagering on smart phones and over the internet.

The governor already had signed, on June 4, House Bill 697, which established the taxes and fees for the wagering game.

The legislation goes into effect a week from Thursday on July 1 – in hopes that everything will be ready to go by football season this fall.



The Lafayette Republican was the driving force behind putting together the legal framework that will allow Louisiana adults to place bets on football, basketball, baseball games and other sporting events. Cortez, Sen. Rick Ward III, R-Port Allen and sponsor of SB142, along with Rep. John Stefanski, the Crowley Republican who sponsored HB697, have been working with gambling companies almost from the minute the parish-by-parish vote in November was counted. Voters in 55 of the state's 64 parishes wanted to participate. Bets will only be taken from phones, betting parlors, bars and restaurants located in those parishes once the system goes operational.

The Gaming Control Board can now start writing rules and considering applications. The 20 existing casinos – those on riverboats, at racetracks and the one on land in New Orleans – can pay the $250,000 to apply for the sports betting licenses. If they meet the suitability review – likely since the casinos having existing relationships with the state, which is why those businesses were chosen to apply first – the casinos then will pay $500,000 for a five-year license. Each license will allow the casinos to hire two providers to handle betting online and via smart phones.

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The legislative package also authorized the Louisiana Lottery Corp. to contract a provider to handle sports betting kiosks that would be placed in the bars and restaurants that serve alcohol.

Wagers would be taxed at 10%, if the bets are placed in the sportsbooks lounges that casinos are going to have to build, and at 15% on cellphones or websites. The taxes would be on the net proceeds — the amount left over after bets are covered — and would be paid by the primary licensees.

Thirty-one states allow sports betting, Louisiana would be 32.

States will handle about $5.8 billion in bets on sporting events in 2023, estimated Eilers & Krejcik Gaming LLC, a research and consulting firm for the gambling industry based in Irvine, Calif.

But how much of that amount translates into tax collections for individual states depends on tax rates, whether phones are allowed, even the location of the state.

Mississippi started sports betting in 2018 and now has about two dozen sports books, but only allows wagering on the grounds of licensed casinos. In May, Mississippi realized $466,596 in taxes from $36.1 million bet that month, according to the Mississippi Gaming Commission. New Jersey, however, led the nation in May with $814 million bet mostly using smart phone apps and websites, and collected $6.7 million in tax revenues for the month, according to Legal Sports Betting Revenue Tracker, an industry media group based in Las Vegas.

Whatever dollars do come in, the collection will be put in the fund that secures the bonds the Louisiana uses to fund construction. From there, 12% would be distributed to the parishes that approved sports betting; 2% or up to $500,000 of the profits would go to the Behavioral Health and Wellness Fund; 20%, up to $10 million, would go to Louisiana Early Childhood Education Fund; 2.5% would go to beef up horse racing purses. The rest would go to the state general fund and be distributed as legislators wish.

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I wonder if they will have kiosks next to atm machines. It would be extremely convenient for me.

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I wonder if they will have kiosks next to atm machines. It would be extremely convenient for me.

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I was at the beau rivage for 4 nights in December for CFB Championship weekend and they have 3-4 kiosks right outside the sportsbook that are 24/7.

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