As Legislative Wrangling Stalls Neighbors, Louisiana Only Gulf Coast State With Mobile Wagering
Article By
Last Updated: 
As the second month of 2022 gets underway, Louisiana remains the only Gulf Coast state, from Texas to Florida, with legal mobile sports betting.
Louisiana is home to a collegiate team, the LSU Tigers, in the highly competitive Southeastern Conference and an NFL team, the New Orleans Saints. Football is expected to generate heavy mobile betting opportunities in the state next season.
Louisiana’s status as the sole Gulf Coast mobile wagering state appears certain to remain intact for many months.
Omicron Dooms Florida Mobile Effort
In Florida, an effort to let voters decide in November whether they want to allow non-tribal online bookmakers to offer statewide mobile sports betting has been unsuccessful.
The initiative’s political action committee, Florida Education Champions, has conceded it failed to gather enough signatures by Tuesday’s deadline to get a mobile wagering question on the November ballot, according to the Orlando Sentinel.
The signature-gathering effort has been financed by online bookmakers DraftKings Sportsbook and FanDuel Sportsbook.
DraftKings Sportsbook contributed $22.7 million to the effort, while FanDuel Sportsbook gave $14.5 million.
By the Tuesday deadline, the PAC had only gathered 509,782 signatures of the required 891,589, according to the Florida Division of Elections website.
The PAC’s spokeswoman, Christina Johnson, said the group ran into serious challenges during the effort, “but most of all the COVID surge decimated our operations and ability to collect in-person signatures.”
The next ballot opportunity is in 2024. Florida is the nation’s third-most-populous state and is considered a major potential opportunity for sports-betting expansion.
Late last year, the Seminole Tribe of Florida briefly launched a Hard Rock Sportsbook mobile app, but a federal judge declared it illegal. With the matter still tied up in court, the app has not been made available to the public again.
A separate proposed ballot initiative that would allow non-tribal casinos in certain areas of Florida had 790,320 of the required 891,589 signatures by Tuesday’s deadline. This initiative is being financed by Nevada-based Las Vegas Sands Corp.
Texas is Years Away From Sports Betting
The nation’s second most-populous state, Texas, is at least three years away from having legal sports betting.
A proposal to legalize sports wagering in the largest state along the Gulf Coast first would have to be approved at next year’s legislative session in Austin. It then would need approval in a statewide public vote. The earliest these steps could be achieved is 2025.
Meanwhile, Louisiana expects to benefit from a large number of Texans crossing the state line from nearby metropolitan areas such as Houston and Dallas-Fort Worth to use their smartphones in placing sports bets.
Mississippi Legislature Eyes Online Wagering
In Mississippi, sports betting is allowed inside the state’s 26 commercial casinos, but mobile wagering is legal only if the bettor is someone on the resort’s grounds.
Right now, the only properties that allow on-site mobile wagering are two MGM Resorts hotel-casinos, one in northern Mississippi and another along the Gulf Coast.
Legislation has been introduced to allow off-site mobile sports betting, but its fate is uncertain. According to Vixio Gambling Compliance, House and Senate bills to permit off-site mobile sports betting must be passed out of committee by Tuesday.
In Alabama, any effort to approve sports betting legislation was not expected to gain traction this year, according to key lawmakers.
Even if mobile sports betting legislation is approved in any state this year, gaming regulators would need six months or so to establish the rules to govern the industry.
Louisiana Launches in Time for NFL Playoffs, Super Bowl
Mobile sports betting in Louisiana began last Friday, in time for the weekend’s NFL conference championship games.
These games included the AFC title matchup between the visiting Cincinnati Bengals and Kansas City Chiefs. Both teams featured former LSU stars, including, on the Bengals’ side of the field, quarterback Joe Burrow.
Burrow led the 2019 Tigers to a national title on his way to winning the Heisman Trophy.
The presence of former Tiger players in the game generated intense betting interest in the state, Control Board Chairman Ronnie Johns told Gambling.com.
Cincinnati upset the Chiefs to advance to the Feb. 13 Super Bowl in Inglewood, California, against the Los Angeles Rams.
Be first to get our exclusive sports offers!
Join today to stay up to date on your states gambling news and offers.
Updated by
Last Updated:
