Sep12
Kentucky Launches Regulated Sports Betting Market with a Bang
Sports Betting Green Lighted in Louisiana
January 14, 2019 Tamara Vucinic
Louisiana Governor, John Bel Edwards, announced for the press that he is in favor of legalized sports betting in this state. He also emphasized that his public for this form of gambling comes from an idea of using the sports wagers’ revenue and investing it into childhood education.
Sports Betting Now Legal Across the USA
After the US Supreme Court made a revolutionary decision on May 14th, 2018, to overturn the sports betting federal ban several states officially legalized the activity.
Nevada, Delaware, New Jersey, Mississippi, West Virginia, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island now allow sports betting in licensed casinos, while others have yet to draft and their own bills.
Neighboring States Already Jumped on the Bandwagon
Since Mississippi became one of the first seven states to introduce legal sports gambling in August 2018, neighbouring authorities in Louisiana.
decided to compete and popularize the local industry by doing the same in 2019.
After a slight makeover of gambling in Louisiana in March of 2018, and the acquisition of Margaritaville Resort on the behalf of the Penn National, the governor of this southern state mentioned in an interview, that legalizing sports betting would make their casinos more competitive. Furthermore, it would prevent punters from going to neighboring states in order to gamble on sports.
“I want to be in a position to actually do
in Louisiana because we know it is happening in Mississippi,” John Bel Edwards told at a meeting of the Baton Rouge Press Club.After November’s elections, another state nearby, Arkansas, also allowed sports gambling, so it additionally contributed to making such a decision on behalf of the governor.
Louisiana to Invest Sports Gambling Revenue into Education
But, allowing sports betting in Louisiana won’t be introduced immediately, since it might take a bit of a time to go through all necessary legal procedures. After legislators sign off on a bill, then each parish in that state will have to vote for or against betting in their districts.
Regardless, the Louisiana governor is keen on using all the revenue from sports gambling as an investment into early childhood education in this state. He feels that it would bring many positive changes in reducing performance gaps between rich and poor students, as well as between Caucasian and people of color.
“We have way more than our fair share of students who show up and are not ready to learn and we don’t catch them go up. If we are serious about education in Louisiana, this is just something we are going to have to do,” Edwards pointed out.
Sports Betting Bill Yet to be Reviewed
Not all Louisiana government officials share the same plans with the governor. For example, the chairman of the Louisiana Gaming Control Board, Ronnie Jones, has an idea of using part of the gambling revenue to invest into fighting gambling addiction.
No bills will be introduced until the government conducts a thorough study of the sports betting industry, in order to better understand what it is all about. That is why the people of Louisiana might have to wait a bit longer to enjoy sports betting, and the wait might take up to a year, experts claim.
Source:
”Louisiana gov gets behind sports gambling“, Eric Gibbs, calvinayre.com, January 9, 2019.
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It is interesting just how the states are literally competing to legalize sports betting. Hope the Louisiana governor will really invest into education.