Legal Developments

The Louisiana Senate easily passed a sports betting ballot measure bill Wednesday, giving better odds than ever that state voters will be able to approve legal wagering within their home parishes as part of this fall’s elections.

Louisiana lawmakers will once again consider bills to legalize Louisiana online sports betting and Louisiana daily fantasy sports apps but do so with unprecedented logistical challenges in addition to the long-standing political hurdles that tanked similar efforts in each of the past two years.

Virginia lawmakers concurred Wednesday with Gov. Ralph Northam’s tweaks to a pair of sweeping gaming bills. Sports betting will be legal in the commonwealth and, assuming further approval by local officials, Virginia will approve legal casino gaming for the first time since its founding as a colony more than 400 years ago.

Oklahoma sports betting was technically legalized Tuesday at a handful of Native American casinos operated by two separate tribes, though further operational and possibly legal challenges could delay or derail legal wagering.

The Illinois Supreme Court ruled last week that a head-to-head daily fantasy contest from 2016 didn’t violate the state’s gambling laws because it was a game of skill, not chance, adding another chapter in the long, and oftentimes contradictory series of court battles regarding the legality of Illinois DFS.

A bill to reallocate sports betting revenues toward property tax relief in Pennsylvania underscores how gaming revenues could play a role in nationwide government budget shortfalls caused by the coronavirus outbreak.

Officials approved Tennessee sports betting regulations Wednesday with a controversial 90% payout cap, the first of its kind in the U.S. Wednesday’s vote was a critical step that will allow mobile wagering for eligible bettors statewide, but the 90% cap will be a self-inflicted handicap for Tennessee sports betting even before it launches.

It took a global pandemic to derail US sports betting legalization efforts. But shut it down it did, and with virtually every state suspending their legislative sessions as the country is on lockdown, it’s unlikely any new legislation will pass this year.

Virginia’s two largest motorsports tracks could open online sportsbooks if Gov. Ralph Northam’s recommended adjustments to a sweeping sports betting bill are upheld by the legislature.

Faced with shuttered casinos, the Mashantucket Pequot and Mohegan tribes sent a letter to Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont, urging him to sign an executive order allowing the tribes to offer online gambling during the shutdown.