Welcome to our weekly industry news digest here at CaptainGambling.com! Here, we’ll give you the latest updates and information regarding betting legislation in all states across the country.
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This week’s top stories:
- Is Sports betting heading to Florida in 2021?
- Sports betting bill put before the House in South Carolina
- How the arrival of online gambling will look in Michigan
Florida
Last week, three bills for the 2021 legislative session were filed by Florida Senator Jeff Brandes of Pinellas County, with the intention of legalizing sport betting in the state.
The most interesting and important bills of these is Senate Bill 392 which, if granted, would give the Department of the Lottery the authority to regulate sports betting in the Sunshine State. Outside operators would need to apply for a license with the Florida DoL at the annual cost of $100,000. Senator Brandes made failed attempts to made attempts to introduce legal sports betting to Florida in the 2020 legislative session. However, his efforts never made it past the Innovation, Industry, and Technology Committee and ultimately died.
What supporters of legalized sports betting hope to perued their conservative doubters on is the revenue that it could bring to the state. The main ways this could be done, supporters say is by introducing sportsbook to the tourist cities of Orlando and Miami.
South Carolina
As with Florida, 3 new bills regarding legal sport betting in South Carolina have been brought before the House and Senate.
If passed, the SC H3395 bill would permit sports betting on professional sports and horse racing in the Palmetto State. Additionally, there’s also language that implies possible Las Vegas style casinos, with table games, slot machines and the bells and whistles expected. There’s no mentioned made of NCAA or other college/amatuer sports, which are even omitted for the legal sports wagering rules offered in the most lenient states, including New Jersey.
The 3 bills are promising, however it doesn’t mean that legal sports betting will be readily available in South Carolina in the near future. The due date of the bill is reportedly January 2022, so if the bill is eventually passed a realistic date for any form of sports betting launch would be sometime around Thanksgiving 2022.
Michigan
The legalization of sports wagering in Michigan took up plenty of gambling news headlines in 2020, and on New Years Day 2021, State Senator Curtis Hertel laid out a timeline for legal sports betting in the Wolverine State.
Somewhat frustratingly, there’s still no exact launch date been laid out, however the Senator did state he expects it to happen “sometime this month”. Around 12 online and retail operators are expected to be made available to Michigan bettors, as every casino in Detroit and the state’s tribes will likely have a sports betting partner. Michigan has, until now, had a large illegal gambling market, the money from which will now be brought “out of the shadows”, according to the Senator. Once sports betting has been launched later this mont (or in early February) other forms of online gambling including casinos and poker are expect to follow quickly after.
