Louisiana Sports Betting Bill Passes On House Floor, On To Gov Desk

• Senate Bill 130 that allows residents in the state to vote on legalizing sports betting in their particular parish passed on Wednesday.
• LA SB 130 will now go to Governor John Bel Edwards for his signature of approval.
• Once Edwards decides to sign or veto the bill, the people of Louisiana will know what they can expect to see in terms of sports betting legalization on their November 2020 ballots.

BATON ROUGE, La. – The Louisiana State Legislature held a debate on the House Floor on Wednesday to discuss Senate Bill 130. The measure would allow for residents in the state to vote on sports betting legalization on the November 2020 ballot where the bill was passed.

LA SB 130 passed in the Senate on May 13 to move onto the House where it officially got through all approvals within two weeks.

The hearing on Wednesday was the final hurdle standing between the bill and Governor John Bel Edwards’ desk.

The Hearing For Senate Bill 130

Speaker for the Louisiana House of Representatives, Clay Schexnayder conducted the session.

The House Floor hearing for Senate Bill 130 went fairly quickly which has been a theme with the bill itself.

LA SB 130 was presented to the House by Representative Stephen Dwight, having only one objection by Representative Raymond Crews about whether or not sports betting was considered gambling.

However, it was noted that the state of Louisiana does not consider the wagering on sporting events as gambling.

After that, the voting took place and Senate Bill 130 passed by a vote of 71 YEAS and 24 NAYS and with that LA SB 130 will now be on its way to the Governor.

Senator Ronnie Johns was fairly positive when speaking to LegalSportsBetting on Senate Bill 130 and it being favorable to pass.

Now that the bill has passed, it is up to Governor Edwards to sign off on it.

The people of Louisiana will know in June if they’ll be seeing the topic of legalizing sports betting in their parish on the ballot come November.

If constituents are in favor, they can then expect to see legal sports betting implemented in their parish sometime in late 2021 or early 2022 according to Senator Johns.

What Happened To House Bill 357?

Senator Cameron Henry and Senator Ronnie Johns worked together to draw up this referendum style bill in order to get legal sports betting to the people of Louisiana.

Similarly, in 2018, a bill that legalized Daily Fantasy Sports (DFS) got its start in this manner.

There are no details for the sports betting industry written within the bill as votes from the residents would be needed to see their stance on the market first.

The purpose of the bill was to ask for the Louisiana State Legislature to allow their constituents within the 64 parishes of the state the right to vote on whether or not they’d like to legalize the gambling on sporting events in their town.

In 2018, 47 of the 64 parishes voted to have legal DFS in their parish. Voters will see this question on the ballot on November 3, 2020, with the passing of Senate Bill 130:

“Shall sports wagering activities and operations be permitted in the parish of _____?”

The second sports betting bill in Louisiana, House Bill 357, mirrored that of LA SB 130 but used different wording and had not moved as far in the Legislature.

“The bill has changed. It has nothing to do anymore with sports wagering. It’s fantasy sports contests now, it does not have anything to do with sports wagering,” said Senator Barrow Peacock during the hearing.

News tags: Barrow Peacock | Cameron Henry | Clay Schexnayder | John Bel Edwards | LA HB 357 | LA SB 130 | Louisiana | Ronnie Johns