By BBBB
Despite talk of a late compromise, Minnesota sports betting has failed to pass in the current legislative session.
The Minnesota House Ways and Means Committee approved a move to bring the language of HF2000 – which covers sports betting – into bill HF5274 which places an outright ban on historical horse race wagering machines. The late date of the approval meant that lawmakers had only 6 legislative days to pass the bill.
However, according to a the bill’s sponsor, Rep. Zack Stephenson, there is no time to discuss or vote on the bill.
In a tweet Stephenson said:
“We’re going to come up just short on the sports betting bill this year. But in the last few days we proved that we could find a deal that all the major stakeholders could live with. Tribes, tracks, charities… That’s meaningful progress that can be a foundation for the future.”
One of the main points of contention with Stephenson’s bill was that it allocated revenue from sports betting to state race tracks. However, the tracks wanted sports betting licenses. The Minnesota Horse Racing Commission then made the decision to allow historical horse race wagering machines (HHR) at the tracks, a move the state tribes objected to.
As a result, Stephenson then introduced his bill to ban HHR machines. The House passed this bill on Friday by a vote of 71-58, while the Senate approved it on Saturday by a vote of 36-25.
While the state’s tribes and horse racing tracks had evidently worked on a compromise deal in recent weeks, there has been no time to fully approve sports betting. This is in large part due to Democrats and Republicans clashing over several unrelated bills.
If Stephenson is re-elected in November, it’s highly likely that sports betting will be discussed in early 2025.
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