Sports betting makes positive strides in New Hampshire and Tennessee
In New Hampshire, Rep. Timothy Lang’s proposal, HB 480, cleared the House by a 3 to 1 ratio, paving the way to set up no more than 10 spots in the state where sports betting will be legal and overseen by the New Hampshire Lottery Commission. The exact House vote was 269-82 in favor. This bill prohibits gambling on high school sporting events along with college teams from New Hampshire. It would allow both land-based and online sports betting.
Gov. Chris Sununu has been on the side of legalizing sports betting from the start, when he stated his support to do so back when the U.S. Supreme Court determined The Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992 was unconstitutional in May 2018. Sununu also added $10 million to his proposed budget in 2020-2021 for sports betting to generate.
The next step for Rep. Lang’s proposal is to be approved by the state Senate. If the Senate approves, the bill is forecasted to bring in about $7.5 million in 2021 for education, followed by $13.5 million two years after.
Rep. Lang told Casino City that he feels strongly his proposal will make it through the Senate.
“I have spoken to a couple of senators and from those conversations I feel pretty good about it being approved with their support,” Lang said on Wednesday. “There was a provision in my bill that was changed to limit the number of allowed locations to 10, which seems to be liked by the senators I have spoken with."
Also yesterday, Tennessee saw a major change in the push for legal sports betting. Originally, legislation was brought forward to bring land-based sportsbooks and kiosks to Tennessee. However, Rep. Rick Staples introduced a new proposal on Tuesday that calls for online sports betting only and does not include land-based sportsbooks.
A vote did not take place yesterday, so Rep. Staples’ idea has not yet been approved. The proposal calls for the state to allow 10 licenses, at $750,000 per license, to be given to operators for the online sportsbooks. His amendment also raises the tax rate from 10% to 20%. According to a report from News Channel 5 in Nashville, Staples is confident that the online sports betting will bring in $21.6 million in the first year and would be able to double that production in year two.
Sports betting makes positive strides in New Hampshire and Tennessee
is republished from iGamingNews.com.