Louisiana Sports Betting Launch Tentatively Moved To Nov 1

• Louisiana’s Gaming Control Board Chairman has given a new goal date for the launch of their newly legalized and regulated sports betting industry – November 1.
• The tribal-owned Paragon Casino has launched a Betfred Sportsbook, becoming the first entity in the state to offer a land-based sportsbook.

BATON ROUGE, La. – Louisiana sports bettors have a new date to look forward to – November 1 – after Louisiana Gaming Control Board Chairman Ronnie Johns said that the newly regulated industry may launch by then.

Johns’ comment came after a meeting with the Louisiana State Police, who provided him with an update on the requisite background investigations on Thursday.

Louisiana sports betting legislation allowed for 20 sports betting licenses for the state’s already-existing casinos and racinos. So far, 13 entities have submitted licensing requests.

Johns says that regulators have adhered to a “gentleman’s agreement” to work on applications on a first-come first-serve basis.

Previous Postponements

The official date for the launch of Louisiana’s legal sports betting industry has been postponed a few times already, most notably due to the landfall of Hurricane Ida.

October 1 was the previous goal date, which became impossible due to the reallocation of State Troopers after Ida’s landfall.

Despite the postponements, Louisiana did see the first launch of a tribal facility based sportsbook this month when the tribal-owned Paragon Casino launched their Betfred Sportsbook.

While more retail sportsbook locations may begin to appear in Louisiana in the following weeks, Johns is less optimistic about the forecast for mobile sports betting.

According to Louisiana’s sports betting legislation, each of the 20 licensees can create up to two online skins – another burden for regulators, according to Johns. He said he expects online sports betting to lag “a couple of months” behind land-based sportsbooks in the state.

News tags: Betfred Sportsbook | Hurricane Ida | Louisiana | Louisiana Gaming Control Board | Louisiana State Police | Paragon Casino | Ronnie Johns