Minnesota voters support sports betting but senators do not

• Recent polls indicate that Minnesota voters support legalizing sports betting.
• The Minnesota Senate did not vote on the proposed sports betting bill in 2022.
• Given the support of voters regardless of political affiliation, state senators may be on the hot seat if no vote occurs next year.

PURDUE – Despite clear support by the public, sports betting in Minnesota may be at a standstill for the foreseeable future.

Minnesota’s voters clearly supported bringing sports betting to their state based on recent polls, but given the hold-up by the Minnesota Senate in 2022 voters may have to wait until after the 2026 Senate elections to really move the needle.

Recent voting results not producing results

The 2022 legislative session saw a sports betting bill die in the Senate without so much as a vote.

Based on recent polls, that may mean that State Senators may be on the hot seat come 2026 regardless of political affiliation.

Those polls suggested that 53% of Democrats and 50% of Republicans support sports betting. Those numbers may not be overwhelming, but consider that 15% of Democrats and 19% of Republicans are still undecided on the issue.

Independents are the only clear “no” to make legal sports betting in Minnesota a reality, but only one seat in the state senate is occupied by an Independent.

Democrats represented 56.9% of all votes at the 2022 Primaries, with Republicans taking up another 42.5% of the voting share.

Given the clear support that both political parties have thrown in direction of legal sports betting, it may be up to Minnesota’s state senators to at least vote on the subject during the 2023 legislative session or they may be out of a job soon.

News tags: Minnesota | sports betting