- Nine Louisiana parishes that rejected sports betting in 2020 may vote again under House Bill 72.
- Parish governments must initiate and fund new elections, with each gaming type requiring simple majority approval.
BATON ROUGE – Nine Louisiana parishes that rejected sports betting in 2020 may have the opportunity to vote on the issue again under newly proposed legislation currently under review in the state House.
Filed by Representative Travis Johnson, House Bill 72, would permit parish governing authorities to call new elections on gambling measures that were previously voted down by local residents. The bill has been assigned to the House Committee on Administration of Criminal Justice and applies to parishes where sports betting and other forms of gaming were not approved in past referendums.
Following voter approval in November 2020, mobile sports betting is currently available in 55 of Louisiana’s 64 parishes. After PASPA was repealed, the state positioned itself as an early adopter by incorporating legal sports betting in January 2022. The majority of the state’s mobile betting services have not been accessible to residents of the nine parishes that voted against the proposal.
Provisions of the Proposed Legislation
The bill includes four types of gaming: video poker, horse racing, riverboat casinos, and sports betting. A simple majority would be needed to approve each version, which would be offered as a separate ballot question. Notably, although being unavailable in 17 parishes throughout the state, daily fantasy sports are not covered by HB 72.
Parish governments would be able to schedule elections under the proposed law, but they would not be obliged to do so. Since the market’s inception, Louisiana sportsbooks that operate in the 55 participating parishes have provided tax money to both state and municipal budgets.
According to the law, any parish that decides to hold a new election would be responsible for covering the associated expenses. The law offers a possible expansion of Louisiana’s sports betting footprint, but real implementation would rely on both legislative approval and parish decisions to proceed with new referendums.
