A Louisiana sports betting tax hike is back on the docket.
The House Appropriations Committee advanced House Bill 639 this week, which would increase the Louisiana sports betting tax to 32.5% from 15%. Rep. Neil Riser’s proposal would send money to student-athletes at Bayou State universities.
The legislative session runs until June 12. Louisiana is just one of multiple states that have considered tax hikes on online gambling.
Louisiana tax hike bill details
Riser’s bill would generate $2 million toward addiction programs. It would send 25% to the Supporting Programs, Opportunities, Resources and Teams, or SPORT, fund, which benefits Division I student-athletes in the state.
Schools under the fund:
- LSU
- Louisiana Tech
- Grambling State
- McNeese State
- Nicholls State
- Northwestern State
- Southeastern Louisiana
- Southern University
- UL Lafayette
- UL Monroe
- University of New Orleans
HB 639 is also now tied to HB 594, which creates a flat tax on insurance premiums. HB 639 will only take effect if HB 594 does as well.
SPORT fund impact
The tax increase could send $31 million to the SPORT fund annually.
It would equally split the revenue between schools, with estimates sending $2.8 million to each institution. While LSU’s athletic budget is more than $200 million, some of the smaller schools spend less than $20 million annually, per the Louisiana Illuminator.
“The need is so high,” Riser told the publication. “When you start talking about the SEC, talking about any level of athletics right now, it’s changed so dramatically.”
Louisiana sports betting tax haul
Louisiana sports betting launched in November 2021, with online sportsbooks going live in January 2022.
Since launch, the sportsbooks have taken $10.1 billion in wagers, generating $1.2 billion in sports betting revenue. That has sent $160.8 million to the state.
Last year, Rep. Roger Wilder proposed taking the sports betting tax rate to 51%.
Sports betting tax hike proposals
Multiple governors have proposed raising tax rates for sportsbooks. Lawmakers in several other states also floated raises.
In Ohio, lawmakers denied Gov. Mike DeWine’s proposal to double the rate to 40%. Previously, DeWine doubled the rate to 20% in 2023.
Gov. Wes Moore in Maryland proposed doubling the tax rate to 30% before lawmakers negotiated it down to 20% in ongoing discussions. Meanwhile, NJ Gov. Phil Murphy is not dropping his wish to take sports betting taxes to 25% from 13%.
