Minnesota Sports Betting Bills Stall in Senate Committee
On Feb. 13th, the Senate State and Local Government Committee held a hearing on two of the competing sports betting bills: SF 757 and SF 978.
SF 757, sponsored by Senator Klein, had the support from the various entities that are crucial to sports betting legislation passing (Minnesota’s tribes, horse tracks, and charitable gaming operators). However, the bill didn’t advance out of Committee. The Committee vote to advance the bill was 6-6, which is an insufficient number of votes to advance the bill. The other sports betting bill on the Committee agenda (SF 978) was tabled. This was the first committee hearing for these bills. In Minnesota, bills have to go through multiple committees before advancing to the full chamber.
This is a significant set-back, but it isn’t necessarily the end of the legislative effort for sports betting in Minnesota this session, which ends in May. There is another sports betting bill that has previously been introduced and other bills can be introduced. Senator Klein can continue to work on this issue. However, for any bill going forward, there will have to be changes made (and differences in bill language) to get the necessary votes. It remains to be seen what effect these changes will have on the support from the crucial entities needed to pass sport betting legislation.