News Flash – Louisiana House Approves Sports Betting
Louisiana is now set up to legalize sports betting after the House approved the wagering bill on Thursday. The legislation is set to head back to the Senate for approval. However, the chamber will have to work quickly to pass the bill before they adjourn on June 10.
Representative Approval
The House of Representatives voted to pass sports betting by a nearly unanimous margin on Thursday. Seventy-eight legislators said yes to the bill compared to the 15 people who voted against sports betting.
Senate Bill 247 will now head back to the Senate for its second approval. On May 19, the bill passed by a 31-6 margin, but Louisiana law requires it to return to the Senate.
Before the end of the 2021 legislative session, he must sign the bill next Thursday for it to become official this year.
The Senate has already approved the bill once, and Governor Edwards has been a proponent of sports betting since the conversation began in the state. The goal for LA legislators is for citizens to be placing bets by week one of the NFL season, which is very realistic in the state.
55 of 64 Parishes
LA voters allowed the legislature to draft a sports wagering bill following the November 2020 ballot. Fifty-five of the 64 parishes in the state voted to legalize sports wagering, which began the sports betting legislative process.
Sports wagering will be legal in the 55 parishes in a mobile and retail format, but nine districts that denied the form of gambling will not have access to sports betting. BParlay.com have a useful sports odds calculator available for anyone looking to make a sporting bet / wager.
Mobile wagers will be geofenced, so the platforms will not work in the nine areas that voted against sports betting. However, 55 of 64 parishes legalizing sports betting is enough for Louisiana to benefit from the sports betting market drastically.
Sports Betting Rules
Louisiana is going to have a massive sports betting market. Under SB 247, there will be 20 licenses distributed to the 15 casinos and five racinos. Each permit will include two mobile skins. Therefore, LA could have up to 40 mobile betting providers.
This framework will generate a lot of revenue, and the legislature is now considering how to distribute the funds. Senate Bill 142 recently passed in the chamber, and it will now head to the House.
This bill states that the funds will be equally distributed throughout the state. It passed in the Senate by a 33-3 margin, which means it will likely fly through the House.
The Louisiana Lottery has been given the power to oversee sports wagering in the state. Governor Edwards still needs to sign off on this, but he is likely waiting for the approval of SB 247.
Now that Louisiana House Approves Sports Betting, the betting market place will accelerate in the USA.