Stephenson has been advocating for statewide legal digital sports betting for at least three years. 슬롯머신
The A-21 amendment was approved 8-4 and the bill was approved 8-5 and is currently headed to the tax commission. Minnesota has no cross-time deadline to adjourn May 20. However, members of this session will have to create new legislation for the 2025 session because if sports betting is not legalized, the bill will not be carried forward.
Minnesota lawmakers have been working to legalize sports betting since 2018. In 2022, Stevenson was able to pass the House, but not the Senate.
The key issue was whether racetracks in each state should be included in providing wagons. The Senate bill, which went through six committees, includes racetracks, and the current tax rate is set at 20 percent. The bill is now moving on to the Finance Committee.
Full tap is political football
The latest amendment would introduce a regulatory structure around fantasy sports, which currently have no regulations. Stevenson has not shared details that have yet been made public when introducing the amendment.
However, an important part of the amendment lies in pulltabs and charitable gaming. Stephenson said that as things stand, Minnesota is seeing the most revenue from charitable gaming, followed by game developers and charitable organizations. He said the amendment would reverse that scenario, potentially sending $40 million over the years, though he did not specify the number.
According to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, opinions are divided over how pull-tap machines work. As technology advances, the machines are becoming dangerously close to slot machines, says the state’s tribes, which have exclusive rights to casino games.
State Democrats passed a law in 2023 banning the “all open” feature for full tabs. Instead, each tab in the game must be opened individually, which ACM says could affect ACM revenue because it slows consumers down and ultimately takes longer for the game.
Pull-taps and charity games are not directly related to sports betting but have the potential to be political football, which Stevenson is attempting to eliminate. To boost ACM’s revenue, the amendment would raise the proposed tax from 10% to 20%.
