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The push to launch sports betting in Louisiana appears to have hit a snag in September. The expected — and long-hoped-for — September launch has yet to come to fruition leaving plenty of question marks about where the launch stands.
After being signed into law in June, the Lousiana sports betting launch had been pushed by state regulators at an incredible pace. Seeing the value that football season brings during the fall months, Lousiana had been preparing for a September launch. In August, the Lousiana Gaming Control board approved regulation laws that allow Lousiana casinos and racetracks to apply for sports betting licenses.
The frantic pace that Lousiana has put on to legalizing sports betting is something we have not really seen in the United States to date. We have seen states like Maryland that are going at a normal — albeit slower — pace. Marland legalized sports betting in May of 2021 and per GamingToday’s Rebecca Hanchett, mobile sports betting likely won’t launch until December or January. At this point, Lousiana has an uphill battle of launching mobile sports betting this football season.
Citing mostly issues related to Hurricane Ida’s wrath for the Pelican State, Lousiana Gaming Control Board Chairman Ronnie Johns said, “hopefully we’ll have some good news soon.” Unfortunately, he reaffirmed that there is no timeline for a Lousiana sports betting launch.
Confirmed Lousiana Sportsbook Partnership Deals
On the Lousiana Gaming Control Board’s conference today, Lousiana has nine sportsbooks with market access deals. It is unclear if any of the below sportsbooks have officially been given a license. Furthermore, there is a serious vetting process that these companies and government bodies go through. Since the committee has been unable to truly meet due to Hurricane Ida, this process has slowed significantly.
Lousiana Sports Betting Launch Unlikely In 2021?
State regulators had originally expected to launch mobile sports betting sometime in September. Unfortunately, September is nearly over and sports betting is no closer to legalization than it was a few weeks ago. Since late August, sportsbooks like BetMGM, DraftKings, FanDuel, and many more have been submitting applications to get a license in the Pelican State. Those licenses appear to have been distributed to the major companies marking a small step in the process.
The state could be at a standstill due to the effects of Hurricane Ida. The consistent power outages, inability for the committee to meet, and many other challenges that Hurricane Ida brought has clearly held up the process. The bad news this morning makes it appear extremely unlikely that sports betting launches in September as previously expected. For now, there is no timeline for Lousiana sports betting to launch. However, it appears to be a grim outlook for 2021 online sports betting legalization.
