After the Supreme Court's decision on sports betting, industry experts said that what may become a "yearslong fight over control of sports betting will hinge on the fine print of a series of gambling agreements between state governments and Indian tribes," according to Draper, Arango & Blinder of the N.Y. TIMES. In Connecticut, where the Mashantucket Pequot Tribe and the Mohegan Tribe "operate the hugely successful Foxwoods Resort Casino and the Mohegan Sun, leaders of the organizations have insisted they alone have the legal authority to offer sports betting, according to their compacts with the state." They said that the state may "incur a steep penalty if it violates those agreements." Proposed legislation would "allow the two tribes, the Connecticut Lottery Corporation, and Sportech, which operates off-track betting parlors in the state, to offer sports betting." Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Council Chair Rodney Butler said that he had "met with state legislators and representatives of Gov. Dannel P. Malloy to begin negotiations." Since legalizing sports betting in California will "require amending the state’s Constitution, lawmakers, lobbyists and tribal leaders are now girding for a drawn-out, perhaps yearslong fight before anyone in the state makes a legal bet on a sporting event." In Mississippi, regulators are "hoping they can be one of those states" that push ahead with gambling and "want a system to allow wagers on sports in place by the start of the college football season." Regulators there last week introduced a 21-page proposal, and its rules are "particularly advantageous to Mississippi’s brick-and-mortar casinos: The regulations would forbid sports betting on mobile devices -- except on a casino’s property -- and would require gamblers to walk into one of the many casinos from Tunica Resorts to Biloxi to place bets." So far, the state’s tribal casinos have been "silent publicly about their intentions" (N.Y. TIMES, 5/22).
NOT ENOUGH: New Jersey Treasurer Elizabeth Muoio said that the state is projecting $13M in "tax revenue from sports betting" in the fiscal year that begins July 1. In Newark, Brent Johnson notes that is a "mere sliver" of the $37.4B state budget that Gov. Phil Murphy has proposed. But State Assemblyman Ralph Caputo said that he "expects the final tax haul to be 'better than that' in the end." Even higher projections -- some officials have estimated anywhere from $50-100M -- would "not have a massive effect on New Jersey's budget." New Jersey Senate President Stephen Sweeney said that "'no one ever thought' sports betting would produce a large enough tax windfall to negate at least one of Murphy's proposed hikes" (Newark STAR-LEDGER, 5/22).
