How Legal Sports Betting Fared On The SD, VA, LA, MD Ballot

• In Virginia, all cities with casino gambling on their ballot approved of the measure. This could bring land-based sportsbooks to those areas.
• Question 2 which would legalize sports betting in Maryland, has passed.
• Voters in South Dakota will likely pass Amendment B which will legalize sports betting in the traditional gambling town of Deadwood.
• In Louisiana, most parishes that approved DFS on their ballot in 2018 passed sports betting in 2020.
• There will likely be 26 states that have legalized sports betting since the repeal of PASPA in 2018.

LAS VEGAS – After a long, contentious, and divisive Election Day, sports bettors around the country can have something to celebrate together.

Legal sports betting was on the ballot in South Dakota, Louisiana, and Maryland coming into Election Day and all three are presumed to have passed the measure.

Virginia also had casino gambling on the ballot for a handful of cities and those casinos would legally be allowed to open sportsbooks. Every county that had casino gambling on their ballot passed their measures as well.

However, while sports betting was approved on the ballot, there is still much more work to be done before sports bettors in these states can have access to regulated sportsbooks.

Maryland Voters Approve Question 2

Voters in Maryland decisively approved Question 2 on their ballot.

The question asks voters if they wanted to approve legal sports betting in Maryland, but did not include any details as to how the industry would operate.

All of those rules will have to be figured out by lawmakers in the 2021 legislative session.

The bill that put sports betting on the ballot originally included provisions for race tracks and casinos in the state to host sportsbooks. It also included statewide mobile sports betting.

These rules were stripped out in the final days of the 2020 legislative session but could come back in next year’s session.

Louisiana Parishes Approve Sports Betting

Louisiana’s ballot measure mirrors that of Maryland’s in that a vote in favor of sports betting means that the state legislature will have to figure out the rules and regulations during the 2021 legislative session.

Where it differs is that in Louisiana, the ballot measure only approves sports betting through a parish by parish basis.

Most parishes passed daily fantasy sports in 2018 and many of those same parishes voted in favor of sports betting.

Rules for mobile sports betting, the tax rate, and other rules will have to be figured out by lawmakers next year.

In 2019, LA SB 153 passed through the state Senate and made it to the House before amendments were stuffed in that ultimately killed the bill. Before video poker terminals were added into the language of the bill, the only places that were expected to have Louisiana sportsbooks were the state’s four racetracks and 16 casinos.

This is something that could come back in 2021 if lawmakers choose to go that route.

Virginia Sportsbooks, Casinos On The Way

Voters weren’t necessarily voting on legal Virginia sports betting since that already passed in April, but rather for casinos to be built in four separate towns.

Bristol, Danville, Norfolk, and Portsmouth have officially passed the questions on their ballots. All those casinos would have the ability to open sportsbooks if they choose.

Caesars has already won the bid for a future casino and sportsbook in Danville and more casino brands are expected to enter the market in 2021.

Online sports betting sites will likely launch in January or February of 2021, much earlier than land-based sportsbooks due to the fact that these casinos still have to undergo further regulatory processes as well as construction.

South Dakota To Pass Amendment B

Amendment B was the sports betting question on the South Dakota ballot. It asked voters if they would approve sports betting within the town of Deadwood’s casinos. At this time, the state is at 64% reporting and 57.3% of the vote is in favor of passing the Amendment.

However, sports betting in South Dakota has the possibility to expand outside of Deadwood. By law, tribal casinos in the state can offer the same types of gambling activities as casinos in Deadwood.

There are a total of nine tribal casinos located in the state so sports bettors will likely have a sportsbook within driving distance no matter what side of the state they live in.

News tags: Amendment B | Bristol | Casino Gambling | Casino Sportsbooks | Danville | Legal sports betting | Louisiana | Maryland | Norfolk | Portsmouth | Question 2 | Richmond | South Dakota | Sports Betting Ballot | Virginia