Minnesota sports betting legislation has been considered multiple times already during this year’s legislative session. Another new bill, the fourth of this session, was introduced Thursday in the Minnesota Senate.
The legislation, SF 5330, was introduced by Sen. John Marty. Of note, the bill includes significant increases to funding for responsible gambling measures, another increase to the Minnesota sports betting tax rate, and keeps a proposed ban on in-game wagering.
More on SF 5330 and Minnesota sports betting
Sen. Marty, who chairs Minnesota’s Senate Finance Committee, foreshadowed this bill in a post on X (formerly Twitter) a few weeks ago. He said:
“I don’t see legalized sports betting as a big revenue source for the state. I see the reality we face: Huge additional costs to taxpayers in mental health and addiction problems.”
Under SF 5330, half of Minnesota sports betting revenue would be set aside for problem gambling treatment programs. A quarter of all potential revenue goes to the state’s general fund, and the remaining 25% would be directed to public schools for use in addiction prevention and mental health services.
SF 5330 also keeps tribal exclusivity while demanding operators pay a 40% tax rate. Such a figure would be the second-highest total in the country, trailing only New York’s 51% tax rate. It also keeps in place a ban on in-game betting, which would be the first restriction of its kind in any legal sports betting market nationwide.
Will SF 5330 gain any traction?
In short: Probably not.
Minnesota sports betting is clearly a hot topic at this year’s legislative session. The four states bordering Minnesota all offer legalized, regulated sports betting (and, by extension, some of the best online sportsbooks in the country). However, this bill is the fourth such piece of legislation considered by Minnesota lawmakers this session. Two were introduced by the Senate, while another was introduced by the House. It’s likely bills introduced earlier and already going through the process have better chances of becoming laws.
In addition, the differences in this bill, compared to ones already in motion, are striking. In prior bills, the Minnesota sports betting tax rate was set at 10%. After the decision was made to implement a ban on in-game betting (a decision referred to as a “poison pill” by Rep. Pat Garofalo in a since-deleted X post), that tax rate doubled to 20% in SF 1949 before that bill passed out of committee. SF 5330 doubles it again, to 40%, a rate previously proposed in an amendment rejected by the Minnesota Senate Tax Committee.
Furthermore, this legislation freezes out Minnesota horse racing venues that had previously been listed as a revenue recipient. The most recent Minnesota sports betting bill, SF 1949, had allotted 5% of total revenue to racetracks. SF 5330, however, doesn’t involve the state’s horse racing industry at all, whatsoever, other than to ban historic horse racing machines in the state.