Minnesota Senator proposes bill to legalize mobile sports betting
A Senate bill introduced on Thursday is a replica of the one that almost passed last year, but some say it’s a gamble.
Supporters have tried and failed for years to push mobile sports betting across the goal line.
What’s changed this year is that most of the businesses that could lose money because of it are satisfied with their cut of the proceeds. This year, Sen. Matt Klein says everybody’s on board to go online.
“Most of the people who are invested in this bill – the authors and the tribes and the teams and everybody else wants to have the mobile device,” said Sen. Klein, (DFL-Mendota Heights). “That’s where the world is going. And I think we can do it safely on your mobile device.”
The bill would set a 22% tax on net gambling revenue, the money Minnesotans lose on their bets.
The money is then split between charities, tribes that don’t have gambling operations, horse tracks, sports tourism, and youth sports, with 10% also going to address compulsive gambling.
“If we’re going to do this, we’ve got to put real safeguards in to address the suicide risk, the bankruptcy risk, all the health risks that we face,” said Sen. John Marty (DFL-Roseville).