Brendan Bussmann, Brandt Iden, and the World Series of Politics team navigate through the most recent updates in Minnesota, Washington DC and Illinois.
After some technical issues, the World Series of Politics has returned. We have a lot of catching up to do.
Minnesota is the first. The state had high hopes that sports betting would be legalised before the end of the session. However, it ended up without any consideration for sports betting. Minnesota was one of the four US states stakeholders believed might pass sports gambling legislation. The others were Alabama, Georgia, and Missouri. All of them failed.
Bussmann points out that a number of factors contributed to Minnesota’s failure at the last hurdle. One of these was the arrest of Nicole Mitchell, a state senator, for burglary.
He says that “in the end one of the downsides of this is just, you know, there were a lot of people who just did not want to get along in the end.” The result, a package of compromises agreed by both sides and both chambers in both the Houses was never advanced.
This year, we were wiped out by our own process.
DC Markets Increasingly Active
Washington DC has begun its budgeting. Iden walks us through the bill by Councilmember Kenyan R McDuffie that would authorize a mobile marketplace in the District.
Iden says that the language McDuffie crafted, calling for a competitive open sports betting market to be established in the district has now been incorporated into the budget. This process will take place over the next few weeks while the council discusses the budget.
When will the final budget package with specific language be adopted?
Next, the package of budgetary legislation will be submitted to Congress for approval within 30 days. This language, which allows for an open, competitive, and free sports market, will either remain in the budget or be removed as a separate piece of legislation.
Iden says that the commissioners and members of council are opposed to Intralot’s model, as it chose FanDuel in March after a middling performance with GamBetDC.
He continues, “This DC lottery contract that is run by a sole source has failed the District.” The problem won’t be solved by a simple bandage. A new operator will simply come in to take over the failed Intralot programme in the past.
Last but certainly not least, Delaware and Illinois
Delaware is third in line, and is also facing similar challenges. Delaware, like DC has an exclusive operator for the lottery. Operators are looking to find a more competitive market. Delaware has also igaming which DC doesn’t.
Bussmann claims that Delaware’s system has been broken for years. House Bill 365 aims to correct this.
A competitive and open market will eventually challenge the illicit market.
Illinois is our last stop, and we’re talking about the illicit market. The state house of representatives approved a controversial tax increase last week. New tax rates would be 40% for certain operators, up from 15%.
Bussmann urges, “Bad fiscal policy must never be adopted.” As we have discussed before, it’s a challenge that Bussmann saw in the Maryland report that was done, where they layered on even more bad tax policies and the end result.
Let’s examine the economics and the operators of the market.
We don’t stop there. Iden pays tribute to Michigan and to the Michigan Gaming Control Board (MGCB), which voted to kick Curacao’s Bovada out of the state. MGCB claims that Harp Media BV, which runs Bovada, allowed Bovada.com or Bovada.lv for Michiganders to access. Harp Media BV did not have the required licence.
