Legal sports betting in Louisiana looks likely to flow entirely through the usual suspects of the state’s gambling industry.
Louisiana’s law for sports betting granted the first crack at licenses to Harrah's New Orleans, 15 riverboats, and four horse-racing tracks. Those operators were given until the end of 2021 to apply for a license.
After that, the Louisiana Gaming Control Board was allowed to start considering whether to grant permits for retail and online sports betting instead to video poker facilities, off-track betting parlors, and fantasy sports operators.
The law also said that if there were more applications for the leftover licenses than there were licenses available, there would be a “concealed bid” process to determine the winner of the permits. Those bids would be judged, at least in part, on how much money they would make for the state.
All of that appears to be moot now, as the gaming control board was told Thursday that 19 of the preferentially-treated entities had submitted applications and that the lone holdout was expected to apply this week.
“Which means for us, and for y'all, is that there should not be a need … for the bid process that talks about if someone does not apply that was eligible,” Louisiana State Police Major Chuck McNeal said during a meeting of the board.
McNeal added that 13 licensees have received a temporary license to launch retail sports betting. That’s up from eight as of mid-November, and most of those temporary licensees have begun taking bets.
Let the bets begin, Louisiana! Now you can bet on all the sports you love in person at our Harrah's New Orleans (@HarrahsNOLA) and Horseshoe Bossier (@Horseshoe_BC) Caesars Sportsbook (@CaesarsSports) locations. pic.twitter.com/ipuXwoiMge
— Belle of Baton Rouge (@BelleBatonRouge) October 31, 2021
The gaming board was also told Thursday the eight state-regulated sportsbooks open in November accepted approximately $27.6 million in bets, generated about $5.7 million in revenue, and owed $568,571 in taxes to the state for the month’s action.
Louisiana Gaming Control Board Chairman Ronnie Johns said he was “highly encouraged” by the sportsbook numbers, as there were only two licensees operational for the entirety of November.
“This is, I think, a really good indication of the interest in sportsbooks in the state of Louisiana and I'm really looking forward to a few months of revenue reports where we can see kind of a trend of where this is going,” Johns said.
Sports bettors across the state need to be 21 or older to wager. The state’s sports-betting law allows the Louisiana Lottery Corp. to take sports wagers via a website, mobile app, and retail kiosks as well.
You can't spell 'internet-based betting' without TBD
But the legal launch of mobile sports betting in the southeastern state is still in the works.
Johns said in November that their goal was to go live in early 2022, but he noted there were some challenges as well. One is that sports betting was authorized in November 2020 by voters in 55 of Louisiana’s 64 parishes, so there have to be assurances sportsbooks can’t be accessed in those nine areas.
McNeal noted that online betting is the “big question” many in Louisiana are wondering about and told the board they are looking at the internal controls for mobile wagering for the 13 retail licensees. However, he declined to give a timeframe for when their work will conclude and online sportsbooks could legally begin conducting business in the state.
“We're working diligently on that just so you know, to get that done,” the major added. “Because we understand that's a big revenue source and a big thing that the public wants, because that allows more individuals in the state to actually wager on [sports]."
