Sports Betting Now Legal in Louisiana
Sports betting is finally on the way to Louisiana residents, as Governor John Bel Edwards has signed the legislation into law.
Edwards had already signed a bill at the beginning of June to establish the taxes and fees for sports betting in the state. Now with signing Senate Bill 247 and Senate Bill 142 yesterday, everything is in place for Louisiana casinos to start applying for state sports wagering licenses for in-person betting and to start building their sports wagering mobile apps.
The law will go into effect on July 1, with the hopes that casinos will be ready to go by the start of football season this fall.
Senate President Page Cortez said yesterday in a press release:
SB247 fulfills the wishes of the citizens in the 55 parishes that approved the referendum last fall to allow sports wagering and SB142 will help direct funding derived from this activity to early childhood education.
Sports wagering will only be allowed in the 55 parishes where residents voted to approve betting. Residents for the other parishes are still allowed to sports bet. However, they will need to be physically in a location in an approved parish. They will also be able to sports wager on mobile applications, but it will be geofenced, which means if a resident is trying to place a bet inside of an unapproved parish, it will not work. That resident would need to travel to an approved sports wagering parish and then place the bet on the mobile app.
To learn more about the taxes and fees a sports wager will pay in Louisiana, click here.