Minnesota sports betting bill introduced

Minnesota lawmakers will be watching the progress of the DoJ and national sports leagues litigation against the state of New Jersey with interest as a possible precursor to what they may themselves be confronted with in the near future following the introduction in the state House of Representatives of a sports betting bill.

State Representative Phyllis Kahn has introduced bill HF 522, a measure that seeks to permit the state lottery and suitable other operators to set up sports pool betting.

If passed, it represents another potential confrontation between a US state and the federal Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act, although college games are specifically excluded in the Kahn proposal, which she hopes to make effective in July this year.

Don’t expect any internet action in Kahn’s HF 522, however; section 8 stipulates that any licensee that has been issued a permit to conduct a sports pool shall not “knowingly make its premises available for placing wagers using the Internet or advertise that its premises may be used for that purpose. A licensee that is determined by the commissioner [of public safety] to have knowingly violated this section shall be subject to a penalty of $1,000 per player per day for making its premises available for placing wagers using the Internet and of $10,000 per violation for advertising that its premises may be used for that purpose.”

Kahn wants the state lottery and those operators regarded as suitable partners to be allowed to take sports bets and set up sports pools, proposing a steep 8 percent of GGR tax for operators.

A percentage of the tax revenues generated by the bill would be allocated to the Human Services division of state government to “provide funds for prevention, education, and treatment programs for compulsive gambling programs.”

The bill specifically disallows sports betting on college sports, noting: “Prohibited sports event means a collegiate sport or athletic event that takes place in Minnesota or a sport or athletic event in which any Minnesota college team participates regardless of where the event takes place.”

Check out the bill here: https://www.revisor.mn.gov/bin/bldbill.php?bill=H0522.0.html&session=ls88