About midway through the legislative season, all eyes are facing the Midwest after the Georgia House failed to send a legal online sports betting bill to the Senate last Friday, the crossover deadline. Stakeholders are now focused on getting online sports betting bills passed in markets in Minnesota and Wisconsin.
The latest Minnesota bill, SF 4139, was introduced March 4, and is comprehensive — besides laying down extensive responsible gaming guardrails and calling for regular studies, it would also ban prediction markets, prop bets on college sports, and some push notifications. Indian Gaming Association (IGA) Executive Director Jason Giles called the bill a “good test model for other states, including California,” Wednesday in conversation with IGA Conference Chair Victor Rocha on the New Normal webinar.
The pair are impressed by the details of the bill, which put tribes first, in part by including two-year license guarantees, shorter than in most other U.S. jurisdictions.
“It gives the tribes the opportunity to switch out [operators] two years down the road” if they don’t like the product, Rocha said.
“That’s capitalism,” Giles said. “Nothing says you can only have five or six platforms … [some in the commercial industry] might like that, but it’s not the way it has to be.”
Lawmakers in Minnesota have long been trying to legalize, but the state is unique. Besides Indian Country and the commercial industry, Minnesota lawmakers have two racetracks and charitable gaming in the mix. Last fall, at the IGA mid-year conference, bill sponsor Sen. Nick Frentz and his House counterpart, Rep. Brad Tabke, said they finally had all the interested parties on the same page. Frentz’s new bill earmarks tax dollars for the tracks and charitable gaming while making the tribes the gatekeepers. At the IGA conference, Frentz and Tabke said their biggest challenge would be other politicians, and that prediction is proving prescient.
“We’ve seen from other states the damages that can occur when you put a casino effectively in consumer’s pockets,” Sen. Jordan Rasmussen told Fox 9 about Frentz’s bill, which hasn’t had a hearing yet. “We see that problem gambling increases, that family bankruptcy increases.”
The bill is now in the Rules and Administration Committee. Lawmakers have about to two months to come to a consensus — the legislature is set to adjourn May 18, and bills from this session don’t carry over to 2027.
In Wisconsin, HB 601, one of a pair of bills introduced in October, passed through the House last month, but has stalled in the Senate. The proposals — SB 592 is the Senate version — have the backing of Indian Country, which was expecting it to move quickly through the legislature until a lobbyist for the Sports Betting Alliance (SBA) in November pushed back on market access. The House sent HB 601 to the Senate Feb. 19, and it’s listed as “available for scheduling” after being referred to the Senate Committee on Organization. There are six days left in the legislative session.
In other news …
Here’s a look at the status of other active bills around the U.S.:
Kentucky: A bill that would change the legal gambling age from 18 to 21, but also much more, was sent to the House Licensing, Occupation, and Administrative Regulations Committee Tuesday. No hearing date has been set. HB 904 also seeks to regulate daily fantasy sports, as well as ban proposition bets on Kentucky college players. The bill would also tweak laws around charitable gaming.
With regard to the minimum age to play, Kentucky is currently one of about half a dozen U.S. jurisdictions that allows 18-year-olds to wager. With regard to DFS, operators the bill would require geolocation, AML, and KYC protocols, and would allow unregulated operators currently offering contests 90 days to get licensed. HB 582, filed in February, which would increase the minimum age for sports betting, is also in committee with no hearing date.
Massachusetts: S 302, the bill that would increase the tax on legal sports betting from 20% to 51% and eliminate VIP programs, ban prop and in-play bets, require affordability checks, and more passed out of the Senate Committee on Economic Development and Emerging Technologies, 5-0, last Friday. The bill has been sent to the Ways and Means Committee.
New York: A bill that would earmark 2%, but not more than $23 million, of tax dollars annually beginning in 2027 for youth sports teams is set for a hearing in the Racing, Gaming, and Wagering Committee Tuesday at 11 a.m. SO 5640 would become effective immediately, and would require $5 million be sent to such programs for 2026.
Also, AO 9584, a bill that would tighten know-your-customer requirements and explicitly ban account sharing and the use of proxies, was referred to the Codes Committee Wednesday, but no hearing date has been set.
Washington: The bill that will allow for some college team props, but not college player props, passed the Washington state Senate Tuesday, 43-6, and will be sent to Gov. Bob Ferguson for signature. SB 6137 returned to the Senate for concurrence after the House amended the bill. The companion HB 2205 was previously sent to the House “X Files,” which means it will not be acted on.
Per the amendment, the bill would continue to prohibit many bets on Washington state college players and teams — banned would be player props, in-game props on a coach’s decision, and in-game bets on officiating decisions for games involving an “educational institution that is located within the state of Washington.”
The bill also further defines what constitutes a threat or harassment of an athlete, and would make it a Class C felony to do so. Washington’s legislative session ended Thursday, meaning that Ferguson has 20 days — not including Sundays, but including Saturdays and holidays — to act on the bill. With the bill backed by the state’s tribes and having heavy bipartisan support, Ferguson is expected to sign.
