Louisiana on Target for Sports Betting Launch

In a little more than 30 days, the NFL regular season will be getting underway. After surviving the 2020 COVID effected season, football fans will be back in the stands to support their favorite teams. Also, sports bettors will be getting the opportunity to wager on games without having to worry much about games being canceled or star players being sidelined with the virus.

In Louisiana, it's starting to look like this will be the first year the state's sports bettors will be able to legally wager on football games from their home state. This is great news from a state that finally approved sports betting legislation around the end of April.

It's worth noting that sports betting operator licenses have yet to be approved. However, the state has all of the sports betting infrastructure in place in terms of rules and regulations. Once operators get the green light, online sports betting sites will almost immediately start popping up in Louisiana. As long as operators get licensing by the end of August, their online betting sites should be ready to go by the start of the NFL season on September 9, 2021.

While online operations should certainly up and running by September 9, it might take a few more weeks to get retail sports betting locations up and running. With that said, many of the state's riverboat casinos have already built retail betting kiosks within their casinos.

About the Louisiana Sports Betting Law

Senate Bill 247 was passed earlier this year with bipartisan support. With the signing of the bill by Governor John Bel Edwards, Louisiana residents got the right to legally bet on sports.

After referendum voting in November of last year, sports betting will only be legal in 55 of the state's 64 parishes. The Louisiana Gambling Commission will be permitted to issue up to 20 sports betting licenses with the Louisiana Lottery getting one and the rest going to the state's riverboat casinos and four racetracks. Any unclaimed licenses will be offered to video poker and daily fantasy sports operators.

For the right to run a retail sportsbook and place two online sports betting skins, each licensee will need to pay a nonrefundable application fee of $250k. After approval, they will need to pay a license fee of $500k, which is good for five years. After five years, licensees will be offered a chance to renew their licenses.

In addition to paying licensing fees, operators will need to pay a tax rate of 10% on sports betting revenue received through retail sportsbooks. Also, they will need to pay a tax rate of 15% on revenue received through online/mobile operations.

With everything seemingly on target for the state of Louisiana, residents are already looking for online sports betting operators worthy of consideration. The list of potential operators includes BetMGM, WynnBet, BetRivers, Caesars (formerly William Hill), bet365, Unibet, Barstool, and Twinspires.

One thing is certain. Louisiana Sports bettors have been waiting a long time for this opportunity.