California, Georgia, Missouri and Kansas are four leading candidates to approve sports betting in 2022. They are not alone.
Though each of the following face their own respective political and/or logistical challenges, here are four more states that could pass sports betting legislation next year:
Massachusetts
It seems that just about every elected official in Massachusetts sports legal sports betting. Despite that base of support, Massachusetts will enter another year without a passed sports wagering legalization bill.
Republican Gov. Charlie Baker and leaders in the Democrat-controlled legislature have proposed several dozen bills in recent years only to see each fall short, year after year. The latest effort passed the House overwhelmingly, only to stall in the Senate for months.
Policymakers have still not reached a consensus on key regulatory issues, such as tax rate and the number of potential licenses. There is also opposition from the state’s universities toward college betting, another holdup. Those are some factors, along with lingering concerns about a potential sports betting market’s role and impact on the popular state lottery, that continue to block legal wagering.
Massachusetts lawmakers return to Beacon Hill in January for the latest go-round in the state’s year-long legislative session. It remains to be seen if elected officials can finally block the logjam, but the continued interest for legal wagering keeps Massachusetts as a potential legalization candidate.
North Carolina
Sports betting is technically legal in North Carolina – but only at two tribal casinos in the state’s rural western portion. Lawmakers considered statewide mobile, with minimal progress in 2021, but could take further action in 2022.
Statewide online wagering has support from some lawmakers in the Republican-controlled General Assembly and is backed by Carolina Panthers owner David Tepper. Though the state has no commercial casinos, the state’s professional sports teams would gladly support sportsbook licensing opportunities. North Carolina could also consider an “untethered” market like in neighboring Virginia and Tennessee, neither of which require online operators to partner with a brick-and-mortar facility to launch mobile books.
That doesn’t mean online sports betting is inevitable. Though sports betting has bipartisan support in the legislature, Republican lawmakers are split over legalization. Many GOP policymakers oppose gambling in any form, making a bill that would allow virtually any adult in the state to wager from their phones a difficult political endeavor.
Minnesota
Though lawmakers have floated sports betting legalization for several years, there has been negligible progress in St. Paul. As more Midwestern states legalize betting, the state’s key gaming stakeholders could be warming to the idea.
Like other Midwestern states including Wisconsin and Michigan, Minnesota’s casino gambling is organized and run through Native American tribes. Fearing statewide mobile wagering would diminish foot traffic to their in-person casinos, Minnesota tribes have largely opposed online betting, effectively tanking any efforts by lawmakers to legalize sportsbooks.
Notably, Wisconsin and Michigan are two states that have paved the way for legal sports betting. Michigan tribes are permitted one statewide mobile sports betting skin apiece, and several have partnered with major operators such as DraftKings. Wisconsin only permits in-person betting on tribal lands, but two tribes have already announced sports betting deals with more likely to follow.
Online would undoubtedly lead to greater market potential, but retail-only could be more politically practical. Either way, lawmakers will likely consider sports betting legislation next year and, with potential tribal support, there could be better odds than ever a bill passes.
Kentucky
Perennially among states seemingly poised to pass sports betting, legislative efforts in each of the past few years have fallen short. Even with Republican backers in the legislature and the outspoken support of Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear, Kentucky still has no legal sports betting options – even as many of its neighbors (including Ohio) approve statewide mobile wagering.
It could be much the same in 2022.
Despite its long-standing affiliation with pari-mutuel horse racing, wagering on sports remains politically taboo in much of the GOP-controlled legislature. With many Republicans, as well as powerful outside conservative, religious and anti-gambling groups, opposed, sports betting has gained little traction.
Retail sportsbooks at state horse tracks would seem like a logistical next step in a state like Kentucky, especially as tracks in multiple other states have already done so. But the politics remain difficult, and a contentious issue such as legal sports betting seems like a difficulty in Frankfort, especially heading into an election year.
