Minnesota lawmakers failed to advance a mobile sports betting bill out of its initial committee Thursday, a major blow to legalization efforts.
The 6-6 vote in the Minnesota Senate’s State and Local Government Committee underscored remaining political opposition for sports betting legalization. Both Republicans and members of the Democrat-affiliated Democratic-Farmer-Labor (DFL) party spoke out against the bill before the vote.
This was the first committee to vote on the bill in the 2025 legislative session.
The tied vote comes in a legislature almost equally divided between Republican and DFL members. Though the legislative session began in January, lawmakers had not held regular hearings or meetings as they fought over party control.
Sports Betting in Minnesota hits dead end in very first Senate Committee hearing. #punt pic.twitter.com/GHeeEpiFam
— 🏇Joe Scurto🐎🍀 (@JoeyHorseshoe) February 13, 2025
Multiple senators opposing the bill cited problem gambling issues that would come from sports betting legalization. Opponents questioned deposit limits, push notification authorization, and a “predatory” business model from mobile sportsbook operators.
DFL Sen. Erin Maye Quade proposed prohibiting all live betting, which she argued was the most addictive aspect of legal sports betting. Republican Mark Koran argued the bill didn’t do enough to protect the state’s charitable gaming organizations.
DFL Sen. Matt Klein, the bill’s sponsor, argued that the legislation was able to offer consumer protections that illegal and offshore books Minnesotans were already using didn’t provide. He testified the bill would generate new revenues for the state’s charitable and “pull-tab” providers, as well as its two horse tracks and 11 gaming tribes.
Bill garners key stakeholder support
While Klein’s bill divided lawmakers, it had garnered support from all the state’s major gaming and sports stakeholders.
Minnesota’s gaming tribes have backed the bill, which would give them exclusive rights to offer statewide mobile sportsbooks in the state. Minnesota Indian Gaming Association representatives testified in support of the bill Thursday, saying it respected tribal sovereignty.
Each tribe could partner with a major mobile sportsbook operator. Leading national brands including FanDuel, DraftKings, BetMGM, Caesars, ESPN BET, and Fanatics would likely have sought market access.
Representatives from the state’s two horse tracks testified in favor of the bill. Part of the Minnesota sports betting revenues would go to support the tracks.
Multiple representatives from the state’s multibillion-dollar charitable gaming industry also testified favorably. Like the tracks, some sports betting revenues would go to organizations offering charitable gaming offerings such as pull tabs, which include VFWs, American Legions, fire departments, and youth sports organizations.
Minnesota sports betting has support from:
— Ryan Butler (@ButlerBets) February 13, 2025
- Gaming tribes ✅
- Both horse tracks ✅
- 1,000+ Charitable gaming / pull tab operators ✅
- The six major pro sports teams ✅
Now it's about getting it through the legislative gauntlet
The state’s major pro sports teams – including the Minnesota Vikings, Minnesota Timberwolves, Minnesota Wild, and Minnesota Twins – submitted a joint letter ahead of Thursday’s hearing backing the bill. The teams worked with Klein and the tribes on the legislation and wrote that bill offered a solution to protect customers and strengthen all Minnesota gaming stakeholders.
The proposal that failed to advance Thursday would include a 22% tax rate on operator gross gaming revenue, one of the higher rates in the nation. It also included some of the strongest problem gambling funding and marketing restrictions of any of the 39 states that have legalized sports betting.
That was still not enough to garner backing from DFL members who feared exacerbated problem gambling from legal betting as well as GOP senators who questioned the tax and financial structure of the legislation.
Minnesota sports betting next steps
The bill now sits in legislative limbo. It may not have the political momentum to be reconsidered.
Klein and other proponents will almost assuredly need to change key components of the bill for it to be reconsidered. Any substantial changes such as tax structures or further marketing restrictions could jeopardize the complex coalition of stakeholders that had spent months working on the compromise presented in the legislation.
If the bill is reconsidered by the Senate Local and State Government Committee, it would still need to pass five additional Senate committee and the full floor before it could advance. It would then need to repeat that process in the House, which would be required to pass an identical version of the bill before it could pass into law.
Assuming lawmakers don’t take up the bill again, Minnesota will have failed to pass mobile sports betting for a third consecutive year. It will remain one of just 11 states to not approve any legal sports betting options.
