On June 11, 2018, the New Jersey Gov Phillip D Murphy signed a bill that ended an 8+ year struggle to legalise sports betting in the state. The move was made just in time before the start of the Soccer World Cup.
Considering that it was a law designed specifically for restoring the glitz and glamour associated with the casinos of Atlantic City, the bill signing happened behind closed doors and a statement was later sent via email to the news media! Hence, now anyone in New Jersey wanting to place bets on sports events, can easily do so by looking up the best online sportsbook in New Jersey.
Just like New Jersey, Minnesota too is about to become one of the first few states in America to legalise sports betting. The May 2018 decision by the Supreme Court came a little too late for a bill to be passed in Minnesota Legislature’s 2018 session. Everyone had high hopes that it would be taken up immediately after the start of the legislative session in January this year. But things had not moved as planned; it’s only recently that the negotiations have started happening to possibly make sports betting legal in the state.
The affairs as of now
As of now, only a few gambling forms are legal in Minnesota, but the options are very less compared to surrounding states and Canada. Gambling for charity purposes is considered legal and there’s a poker club at the Canterbury Park as well. Minnesota has some tribal casinos too, apart from a state lottery that permits multistate games like Powerball and some in-state games too. Wondering why so many restrictions? Well, here’s why so many US states don’t allow sports betting.
The proposed bill
The proposed gambling bill of Minnesota is still being negotiated, however, legislators do have a fair idea what direction they’d like sports gambling to take. As there is already a governing structure for Minnesota lottery, there’s a high chance that it could be given the charge of sports betting too. Many other countries like Canada have been running sports betting profitably in this manner.
What are the chances?
Well, there’s still some time before you’ll be able to place your favourite WWE prop bets from Minnesota. The bill will need to cross several hurdles before being passed successfully. The biggest task will be to obtain a go-ahead from the tribal casinos operating in the state. As of now, 11 tribes have a running agreement with the Minnesota State for offering gambling facilities. Although there will be no need to consult these tribes to come to an agreement on sports gambling, it can’t be denied that they could cause problems in the launch of commercial ventures. The legislators have given statements that the tribes should also be allowed to run sports gambling operations if at all they are legalised in the state.
Mobile betting seems to be a major bone of contention between the legislature and Indian casinos. Presently, the tribe is allowed to offer various gaming options provided they are all on the reservation. But if mobile and/or online gambling is approved by the legislature, it would also need to be run past the tribes. New Jersey effectively handles its mobile gaming laws by permitting tribes to have their servers in a town situated close to reservation. Minnesota could also rule that the operations will be considered tribal gaming as long as the servers handling the traffic were on board.
