New Sports Betting Compact Presented In Arizona Legislature

• Tribal casinos cold offer Arizona sports betting should a new bill be approved by legislators.
• The updated compact would allow tribal casinos and local professional sports teams to offer betting lines.
• Local lawmakers are hoping legal sports betting will increase state revenue.

PHOENIX – Those betting on sports in Arizona may soon be able to partake in regulated sports betting should a newly updated compact be approved in the House of Representatives.

The new bill would allow tribal casinos to offer both retail and mobile sports betting. The bill would update the current compacts that allow tribes to offer gambling operations.

A big selling point is that the bill will also allow local teams to offer sportsbooks at their stadiums. Teams like the Arizona Cardinals, Phoenix Suns, Phoenix Coyotes, and the Arizona Diamondbacks would all be able to curate deals with legal sports betting operators.

Sports Betting In Arizona

Lawmakers have failed to bring legal sports betting to its legislations in the past, but there is a lot of optimism that this bill will finally launch legal sports betting in Arizona.

The proposed updated compacts have been presented to the Arizona House of Representatives at the most recent legislative session, with the House planning to review and then vote on the bill at a later session.

Lawmakers seem to be on board with the update, with Governor Doug Ducey publicly anticipating the updated compacts as a way to increase state revenue in a time where budgets have suffered due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The bill is backed by Republican Rep. Jeff Weninger.

“With that comes tax revenue without raising taxes, and allows us to keep our tax rates low,” said Weninger.

The bill allows 10 sports betting licenses to be issued to the tribes and an additional 10 be allowed for sports franchises. This is a total of potentially 20 active sportsbooks in the state should the bill pass.

In order for the bill to pass fully, both the state would have to vote to approve the bill, and the local tribes would have to agree to a 20-year extension to the gaming compacts that would come with the update.

If the tribes are on board with the proposal, Arizona may soon be a regulated sports betting market.

News tags: Arizona | Arizona Cardinals | Doug Ducey | Getchen Conger | Jeff Weninger | Phoenix | Phoenix Coyotes | Phoenix Suns | sports betting