Legal sports betting may be coming to Minnesota. But it doesn’t appear to be in much of a rush.
Consider the Senate bill that would partially conjure sports books in Minnesota narrowly slipped out of its original committee Thursday (and faces an uncertain reaction during its next stop). The vast majority leader of the Senate is not keen on the thought. The state’s 11 Native American tribes are opposed. Anti-gambling and many religious organizations are opposed. And, oh yeah, it doesn’t increase much money.
There is also this: the House bill on the same topic hasn’t been set for a hearing, lacks assistance from DFL leadership, also confronts lots of the same liabilities as the Senate bill.
Aside from that, it’s a sure thing.
Introduced by Senate Taxes Committee Chair Roger Chamberlain, R-Lino Lakes, the Senate’s sports betting bill, SF 1894, does have sponsorship from both Republican and DFL senators. And it created its first official appearance before Chamberlain’s own committee Thursday. “That is a company, it is a profession, it is entertainment,” Chamberlain said. “People do make a living off of this… and they also have a great deal of fun.”
And even though it is not lawful in Minnesota, there are many people who bet illegally or through abroad mobile or online websites. Chamberlain thinks by legalizing and regulating it, the condition might bring to the surface what’s currently underground.
But sports betting gambling is a minimal profit business for casinos; much of what’s wagered is returned to players as winnings, which means that could be subject to state taxation,”the hold,” is comparatively modest. Chamberlain’s bill would tax that amount — the amount of wagers minus winnings — at 6.75 percent.
State Sen. Roger Chamberlain
MinnPost photograph by Peter Callaghan
State Sen. Roger Chamberlain
“Many nations think it is a money-maker for these and it may be,” Chamberlain said. “But we’re not in this to increase a great deal of revenue. We want people to take part in the business and have some fun doing it.” Race and casinos tracks could benefit using sports betting as a means to attract more people into their casinos,” he said.
The bill claims that if the nation’s tribes wish to offer sports betting, they’d need to request a new compact with the state, something required by national law. The country is obligated to bargain in good faith which includes agreeing to some kind of gaming already allowed off reservation.
Nevertheless, the executive director of the Minnesota Indian Gaming Association, John McCarthy, said Thursday that the tribes have many worries about both the House and Senate bills, also are in no rush to add sports betting to their operations.
McCarthy said the tribes have invested billions of dollars in gaming facilities and utilize them to raise money to cover”services, schools, schools, housing, nutrition plans, wastewater treatment facilities, law enforcement and emergency services, and other solutions.”
“Because these operations are crucial to the ability of tribal governments to meet the requirements of their people, MIGA has had a longstanding position opposing the growth of off-reservation gaming in Minnesota,” McCarthy said. The cellular facets of the bill, ” he said, would”make the largest expansion of gambling in Minnesota in over the usual quarter-century, and therefore MIGA must respectfully oppose SF1894.”
He said the tribes were particularly worried about mobile gambling and how it could lead to much more online gaming,”which represents an even more significant danger to all sorts of bricks-and-mortar facilities that currently offer gaming: tribal casinos, race tracks, lottery outlets, and bars with charitable gambling”
Additionally opposed was an anti-gambling expansion group and a spiritual social justice firm. Ann Krisnik, executive director of the Joint Religious Legislative Coalition, mentioned the state financial note that said the revenue impacts of the invoice were unknown.
“It’s unknown not only in terms of revenue, but it is unknown also in terms of the ultimate costs this generates for the state,” Krisnik stated, citing societal costs of more gambling.
Jake Grassel, the executive director of Citizens Against Gambling Expansion, said the bill was a terrible deal for the state. “The arguments in favour of legalizing sports gambling may appear meritorious at first blush — that is, bringing an unregulated form of betting from the shadows,” Grassel said. “Upon further consideration and reflection, the prices are too high and the advantages are too little.”
A way to’begin conversations with the tribes’
The Senate bill finally passed the Taxes Committee with five yes votesno votes and one”pass.” Two additional members were absent. It now belongs to the Senate Government Operations Committee.
Following the taxation committee vote, Chamberlain stated he believes this a way to begin conversations with all the tribes. Even if the bill passes, it doesn’t take effect until September of 2020. And compacts would have to be negotiated to clear the way for on-reservation sports betting.
“We are optimistic that they’ll come on board,” Chamberlain said of these tribes. “Their business model will not continue forever. Young folks don’t visit casinos. I visit them occasionally with my spouse and other people and frequently I’m the youngest one there and I am in my mid-50s. We think it is a business enhancer.
“I understand their caution but we’re right there together and when they make more comfortable and more individuals know about it, I am confident we’ll move,” he explained.
Later in the day, Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka said the GOP caucus hasn’t met to talk about the matter and that he is not in a hurry. He said the mobile betting aspects are of particular concerns to him and he is personally opposed.
“I do know that it requires more time and that is the 1 thing I’m gonna inquire of this bill,” Gazelka said. “It’s come ahead around the country and we’re gonna need to deal with it like any other issue. But it is not a partisan matter.”
Some thorny questions All of this became possible when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled last spring that Congress had exceeded its power when it announced that sports gambling was illegal (except in Nevada, where it was operating at the time). New Jersey had sued to clear the way for sports books at its struggling Atlantic City casinos.
The conclusion quickly led states across the country contemplating whether to legalize and regulate sports betting. Eight already have, and polls suggest legalizing sports gambling has broad popular support.
The issue for the nation’s gambling tribes is if they would make enough out of the new gaming choice to compensate for the potentially gigantic growth of it off-reservation. There’s no obvious answer to whether tribes can do much with cellular gambling, since the federal Indian Gaming Regulatory Act that generated the financial increase of casino gambling allows gambling only on reservations. Though some states have announced that using the computer servers that process bets on bookings is enough to comply with the law, the issue has yet to be litigated.
The House and Senate bills also increase a thorny legal and political issue because they apply state taxes to tribal gambling, something the federal Indian Gaming Regulatory Commission has ruled is not allowed. While tribes in other states have consented to share gaming revenue with countries, it has come with invaluable concession — for example tribal exclusivity over betting.
While the House bill gives the tribes a monopoly for the time being, the Senate version cuts the nation’s two horse racing tracks in on the action. A 2018 evaluation of this problem for the Minnesota Racing Commission calls sports betting a”momentous threat” to racing, but notes that all the states but one that have legalized sports gambling have allowed it to be offered at race tracks. As reported by the commission, the Thoroughbred Idea Foundation has reasoned that”he most obvious way of decreasing the possible negative effects of legalized sports betting on the racing market would be to allow sports gambling at racetracks and to direct internet revenues to the support of breeding and racing in the state. ”
The Senate bill allows a type of cellular betting but necessitates using geofencing to ensure that the bettor is within state boundaries and needs them to get an account that’s been created in person at the casino or race track. It also creates a Minnesota Sports Wagering Commission, which would make rules including what types of bets would be permitted and also regulate the matches.

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