Alabama Lawmakers Consider Legislation For Regulating Land-Based, Mobile and Online Sports Betting

With more US states jumping on the sports betting bandwagon each day, Alabama lawmakers appear to be on track and could be putting together a legislative piece that will regulate not only in-person wagering in select licensed properties…

…but online and mobile betting as well! The new bill, HB315, is proposed by Reps, Mike Rogers and Mary Moore, and it aims to make betting on professional and college events legal.

A New Governing Body to Handle the Market

The bill – known as the Alabama Sports Wagering Act in its current form – also suggests the installment of the brand-new state regulatory body, Alabama Sports Wagering Commission…

…whose responsibility would be to oversee and govern all aspects relating to this gambling vertical.

The eventual regulator would be authorized to hand out up to seven sports betting licenses to land-based venues with pari-mutuel wagering allowed.

Operators interested in offering their sportsbook services would need to pay a $100,000 license fee which would expire after five years and would need to be renewed.

Other Jurisdictions’ License is Not Out of Picture

Operators that manage to obtain the license…

…will be permitted to offer in-person sports wagering, mobile and online platforms which can be used from anywhere within Alabama borders.

Operators will have the freedom to employ a third-party company that would provide sportsbook technology, as long as this entity has a license for management service provider that costs $1,000.

House Bill 315 even allows for licenses from other US jurisdictions as long as they are similar in requirements to that of Alabama.

The Question of Tribes Remains

The legislation contains a language that considers a taxation rate…

…and it suggests a 10% tax on all gross sports wagering wins. The tax is to be collected on a weekly basis.

Interestingly, there is no mention of tribal casinos operated by the Poarch Band of Creek Indians anywhere in the bill.

The bill has about eleven weeks to be made into law, as the Alabama Legislative Session for this year will run until June 18th. It is being reviewed by the House Economic Development and Tourism Committee.

functioning sports betting market that has been live since Last August.

Source:

“Alabama eyes legal sports betting in new bill”, igamingbusiness.com, April 3, 2019.