Latest Update on Sports Betting Legalization in Minnesota
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00:00 (upbeat music)
00:02 - But up in the, I believe in your neck of the woods here,
00:06 I keep hearing that maybe the next state to go
00:10 to actually go full board
00:13 and get everything legalized is Minnesota.
00:16 Is that still on track here to by the end of the year?
00:20 - Yeah, so the past two years,
00:22 I've gone in very bullish on Minnesota.
00:25 Last year, of course, it didn't work out.
00:26 They got it pretty close.
00:28 I mean, I've been told by various industry sources,
00:31 there is no more lobbying to be done.
00:33 Lawmakers want this to happen.
00:34 Now, the problem is, is the tribes would have sports betting
00:39 or they want sports betting exclusivity.
00:41 And the DFL party, which is essentially the Democrats,
00:44 want tribal exclusivity,
00:47 and they have control of both chambers of the house
00:49 and the governor's office.
00:51 And the Republicans, who still do hold some sway,
00:54 because of course, there's parts of both parties
00:56 that don't want sports betting.
00:58 So you need votes on both sides.
00:59 They want the horse racing tracks involved.
01:02 And the horse racing tracks, of course, want to be involved.
01:05 And so there's negotiating going on behind the scenes
01:09 between the tribes and the tracks,
01:10 trying to come up with the right model to go forward.
01:13 We left off last year with a big chunk of revenue sharing
01:18 kind of out there to see where we're going.
01:22 And we're gonna get our first hearing tomorrow
01:26 in a committee that is bringing back a bill
01:30 that is still in play from last year,
01:31 which is Rep. Stevenson's bill,
01:33 which he's been the lead kind of charge from the DFL party,
01:38 very close relationship with the tribes,
01:40 and trying to figure out
01:42 where this kind of can come together.
01:45 And like I said, everybody on the legal side
01:48 apparently wants this in Minnesota.
01:50 The Republican party wants it, the DFL wants it,
01:53 the governor wants it, the tribes.
01:56 I would assume want it.
01:58 And so it's just kind of a tug of war right now
02:01 in the negotiating battle and seeing where we end up.
02:04 Minnesota came close a couple of years ago too
02:07 when the Republicans were in charge.
02:09 So this is a state that a lot of people are saying
02:13 this is kind of the shoe-in of the states that are left.
02:17 But again, they keep getting close and not getting there.
02:19 But could this year be different?
02:21 It's certainly plausible.
02:24 But yeah, it maintains the best
02:28 to get any sort of legalization done.
02:30 Mississippi, I think looks good
02:33 to get their online sports betting live.
02:36 You know, of course,
02:37 they have retail sports books at their casinos,
02:40 so they already have legal sports betting.
02:42 But they might be the best odds
02:45 to get something actually through all the way.
02:48 But to legalize sports betting,
02:50 Minnesota, I think, is number one.
02:52 (upbeat music)
02:55 (bells chiming)