The Louisiana House of Representatives overwhelmingly voted in favor of raising the mobile sports betting tax on operator revenue to 21.5% Tuesday, a climbdown from the originally proposed increase to 32%.
Rep. Neil Riser, the primary sponsor of HB 639, offered the new rate among amendments to his bill, which passed out of the Ways and Means Committee by a 20-1 vote with the 32% rate late last month. Riser was complimentary of the sports betting industry in general when presenting his amendment to the House floor, saying, “They’ve been probably the most professional organization I’ve dealt with.”
Louisiana launched sports betting in November 2021 with tax rates of 10% on retail operator revenue and 15% for mobile operator revenue. The Pelican State also has one of the more unusual rules in the nation when it comes to promotional deductions mobile operators can claim, limiting that amount to $5 million per year.
The bill, which passed by a 73-15 vote, now heads to the Senate. Riser’s bill was preferred over one submitted by Rep. Shaun Mena, whose HB 587 proposed a progressive tax ranging from 20% to 40% with mobile operator revenue thresholds identical to ones currently in place in Illinois.
Big sportsbook wins could mean big tax revenue gains
Louisiana is a state where operators have routinely outperformed expectations compared to industry standards. The statewide hold on gross revenue has surpassed 10% — three full percentage points above the 7% industry standard for gross winnings — in 31 of 40 months with mobile betting available.
This year’s collective hold is a robust 12.1%, with operators winning $180.9 million from $1.5 billion wagered. That is the highest win rate among 15 states with at least $1 billion in handle this year that tax operator revenue.
It also includes an 11.8% win rate for April, with sportsbooks generating $40.7 million in gross revenue and $38.4 million in adjusted revenue (after promos) from $343.8 million in wagers. Overall, year-to-date taxable winnings — which excluded promo deductions, effects of the federal excise tax on sports wagers, and carried-over losses — are up 16% year-on-year 2024 to $155.6 million. That represents 86% of total sportsbook winnings.
The state has claimed $23.3 million in overall tax receipts through the first four months of 2025, an increase of $3.5 million from last year. At the proposed 21.5% rate, the $148 million in mobile AGR would have generated $31.8 million in tax revenue, an increase of $9.1 million.
