Is Sports Betting Legal in Minnesota?

The Land of 10,000 Lakes isn’t quite the land of 10,000 casinos, but there sure are a lot of them in Minnesota. There’s only one problem. The overwhelming majority of them are licensed tribal gaming facilities. In fact, there are 40 of those in the state of Minnesota and a couple of race tracks/card rooms.

Minnesota, like most states, wrapped up its legislative sessions shortly after the May 14 Supreme Court ruling that struck down PASPA. As a result, it will be a hot minute before sports betting gets on the floor in the state legislature. It will be up to the representatives to find a solution that placates both sides, but the most important side in all of this will be the Native American side. At least the downtime between sessions will give all sides ample opportunity to look at the pros and cons.

Perhaps Minnesota moves quickly after the calendar flips to 2019. Perhaps Minnesota doesn’t because of opposition from either side of the aisle or from the Indian tribes, but there are a lot of brick-and-mortar facilities ready for sports betting if it comes to fruition. Some states don’t even have that. Minnesota is certainly positioned well in that regard and they are spread out throughout the state. That is another nicety for bettors in Minnesota. Some states only have casinos around population centers or state borders. For Minnesotans, it wouldn’t be hard to find a place to bet, even if the state failed to adopt app betting.

Another piece of the sports betting puzzle is that Minnesota is a large state with a significant amount of infrastructure. There are a lot of roads and bridges. Any revenue windfall is a big boost for the state budget and it will be hard for Minnesota to say no to those funds.

 

Recent News Stories About Betting

The Duluth Tribune’s Editorial Board interjected quotes with opinion back on May 19 with a pretty compelling argument in favor of sports betting.

There was hope of a 2018 start to sports betting back on May 14 in the Twin Cities Pioneer Press, but State Representative Pat Garofalo’s plan in February didn’t get a lot of traction and it was pretty much pushed off of the to-do list until next year.

The Twin Cities Business gave a strong list of bullet points as to how sports betting would help the state and why it could move quickly.

 

Forecast

Minnesota should be one of the early adopters in 2019. Wheels can be greased over the next few months and that should limit any hindrances in the new year. Anything that can help a big state add more revenue to the budget is going to eventually be welcomed with open arms.

 

Neighboring States

Iowa

North Dakota

South Dakota

Wisconsin