The Legislature gave final passage to a bill setting the rules and regulations for legalized sports betting. Earlier this month Governor Edwards signed legislation setting the tax rates for sports betting with a 15% tax on mobile betting and a 10% tax for betting at authorized locations.
The bill lets anyone 21 and older place bets on their mobile device, computer, or at select locations such as sportsbooks and Louisiana Lottery run kiosks in any of the 55 parishes that voted to approve the activity.
“We put this to a vote, this isn’t just the Legislature telling folks hey this is what we are going to throw on y’all, people went to the ballot box and voted on this and said this is what they wanted and it passed pretty overwhelmingly,” said Crowley Representative John Stefanski who wrote the bill setting tax and fee rates for sports betting.
The ability to place bets anywhere in approved parishes is a major expansion from initial proposals that would have only allowed betting at casinos. Stefanski said it was a question of equity for rural areas that votes to approve the activity and a revenue necessity.
“Mobile makes the most sense, mobile makes it the easiest for our citizens to access, and it creates the biggest revenue source for our state as well,” said Stefanski. “You have big parts of our state that don’t have any casinos so let’s say we settled on those traditional facilities for sports betting with no mobile, well then you are really limiting who can participate.”
Bars and restaurants will have the option of paying a $10,000 fee to establish a sports betting kiosk at their business, meaning bets will be taxed at the lower rate. Bets can also be placed at sportsbooks in casinos.
Governor Edwards is expected to sign the bill into law, which could mean sports betting could be online for the fall football season.
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