After entering 2025 with a deal reportedly essentially in place, Minnesota sports betting legislation fell short without any major momentum.
The Minnesota legislature adjourned Monday without legalizing Minnesota sports betting. A bill that would have studied the industry was also shot down.
Lawmakers ended the 2024 session with a reported deal ready to pass in 2025. Instead, opposition arose and doomed the legislation from the outset of the session. A bill in the House, which has passed sports betting legislation in the past, did not gain any traction this session.
No Minnesota sports betting, again
Early this session, Sen. Matt Klein introduced a bill that appeared to include all the necessary parts for a deal to legalize sports betting. However, opposition kept the bill from passing its initial committee.
Last week, the Senate Taxes Committee rejected a proposal to “study, evaluate, provide recommendations, and issue a report on the legalization of sports betting.”
That study proposal was part of an omnibus tax spending bill. Committee Chair Sen. Ann Rest said sports gambling legislation was “too preliminary” to require a study.
Abandoning Minnesota tribes
Klein is the taxes committee vice chair. During the committee hearing, Klein said the legislature is “abandoning” Minnesotans and the state’s 11 tribal nations that declared sports betting a top issue.
“Once again, this year we are going to abandon Minnesotans who feel they have a legitimate right to sports wager on their mobile devices and are doing so already in abundant numbers on platforms that are unregulated, unsafe and predatory,” Klein said.
Klein also said he did not think it was necessarily dead this year. There will be a special session to finish the budget.
Close but no cigar in Minnesota
Klein, a Democrat-Farmer-Labor member, and Republican Sen. Jeremy Miller have championed sports betting legislation in the past several sessions. DFL Rep. Zack Stephenson led the charge in the House.
A major hurdle before this session was a disagreement between the tribes and the state’s horse racing tracks. The tracks wanted licenses or a significant share of sports betting revenue. That left DFL and Republican supporters at odds and legislation falling short.
Those issues had reportedly been ironed out when Klein’s bill made it to a February committee hearing.
Opposition fortified against Minnesota sports betting
Prior to the session, Sen. John Marty held a Senate Finance Committee hearing on the harms of the sports betting industry.
Marty was among the lawmakers who voted against Klein’s bill in February, preventing it from advancing.
Sen. Erin Maye Quade was the loudest critic in the vote against Klein’s bill. She told LSR last year that despite the bipartisan deal for sports betting, there would still be strong bipartisan opposition.
