Sports Betting In Minnesota Advances

This article is dated March 18, 2022, content related to promotions is no longer valid. Any promotion described below has expired.

In recent months, the Minnesota state legislature has been working towards the creation of some meaningful sports betting legislation. Just this past week, big steps were made towards getting something available that would be agreeable to the state's gambling community.

The most recent progress came with the amendment of House File 778 by Representative Zach Stephenson. According to the details found in that amendment, the start’s Indian Tribes would get exclusive rights to offer sports betting to the state of Minnesota’s sports betting community.

While the amendment passed advanced through its current committee by a vote of 11-4, support for the law as stated is still tepid at best. Even the beneficiaries, the state’s Tribal Nation, have yet to fully jump on this legislation as currently written. According to Andy Platto, executive director of the Minnesota Indian Gaming Association,

“Tribal leaders are now reviewing the delete-everything amendment and hope to soon be as comfortable with the details as they currently are with the general framework. But, in concept, the (amendment) does recognize that tribes as the state’s gaming experts are best positioned to operate Minnesota’s sports betting market both in retail and mobile environments. For these reasons, I’m pleased to ask the Commerce Committee to approve the bill today.”

Specifics About the Legislation

In the legislation with the amendment, the state would issue two master licenses to two controlling bodies, one that would oversee the seven Tribes that sit north of Interstate 94 while the other would oversee the four Tribes that site south of the same interstate.

Each of the 11 Tribes would be permitted to apply for sublicensing from the master licensees. The sublicensing would allow each tribe to offer retail sports betting on their lands (through kiosks and casino properties) and mobile access through one sports betting mobile operator in restricted areas around Tribal lands.

The master licenses would be valid for 20 years with the fee TBD. The sublicenses would require the payment of a $2,125 subscription fee, a $6,000 application fee, and a first-time licensing fee of $38,250 for the first year. In subsequent years, the license renewal fee would be $8,500. In comparison to other states, these are very low fees. It’s also noteworthy that Tribes would not have to pay any taxes on retail sports betting operations that take place on Tribal lands. The tax rate on mobile sports betting revenue is TBD.

Sports bettors would only need to be 18 years of age or older. They would be allowed to wager on professional and college sports with no restrictions. Any tax revenue that is collected would be distributed as follows:

• 50% to the Minnesota Amateur Sports Commision
  
• 40% for support of a problem gambling program
  
• 10%to cover regulatory expenses
  

Moving forwards, there could be some kickback from Minnesota’s horse racing community, a community that is being left out of the sports betting mix. They will be standing on the potential impact of non-competitiveness that would be created by them not being able to participate in the state’s sports betting community.