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North Dakota is leaving online sports betting to its tribal nations for now.
The North Dakota Senate on Monday voted down a proposal (HCR 3002) that would have put a statewide sports betting amendment before voters, instead rejecting the proposed amendment on a vote of 16-30.
The legislation had initially passed the House 49-44 on Jan. 12.
Had the legislation passed this spring, North Dakota registered voters would have been able to decide in Nov. 2024 whether to require state lawmakers to authorize state-regulated and licensed online sports betting statewide as early as 2025. Currently sports betting is only allowed on tribal reservations in the state.
There is a chance that the Senate will reconsider its vote on HCR 3002 as it did in 2021. But the likelihood of that happening is as uncertain as final passage.
If the Senate doesn’t reconsider the proposal, it will likely be 2025 at the earliest before lawmakers take up the issue again. The North Dakota Legislative Assembly meets in regular sessions in odd-numbered years, which means no regular session in 2024.
Proposal Faced Uncertain Road Since January
It had been an uncertain road for HCR 3002 since January, when the legislation was first amended by the House Judiciary Committee.
The proposal sponsored by Rep. Greg Stemen, R-Fargo, stated that lawmakers “shall authorize sports betting to be conducted in the state and licensed and regulated by the state.” On Jan. 10, the committee changed the proposal to read that state lawmakers would be allowed – rather than required – to authorize state-regulated sports betting on professional sports only, only to recommend that the proposal not pass on the floor.
The legislation followed a similar path in the Senate. It was amended with the permissive language specifically for pro sports by the Senate Judiciary Committee on March 14, with a recommendation that the bill not pass on the floor. The next day on March 15, the amendment failed.
But unlike the House vote, the Senate voted down the entire proposal when it finally came to a floor vote yesterday.
The outcome seemed disappointing to Sen. Scott Meyer. The Grand Fords Republican reportedly told the Senate on Monday that legalization of statewide sports betting should be up to citizens who will bet anyway.
“Doing nothing will not protect those that need the help,” Meyer told the Senate, according to an April 10 report by The Bismarck Tribune.
North Dakota Sports Betting Now Under Control of Tribal Casinos
North Dakota sports betting is currently available only on tribal lands of the state’s five tribal nations. Retail sports betting has been operational at select North Dakota tribal casinos since 2021. Online sports betting and online casino was approved by amended tribal compacts between the five tribes and Gov. Doug Burgum signed on Dec. 2, 2022.
Those amended compacts were approved by the federal government on Dec. 19 when they were published in the Federal Register.
The five tribes covered by the agreements are the Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate of the Lake Traverse Reservation, South Dakota; Spirit Lake Tribe, North Dakota; Standing Rock Sioux Tribe of North and South Dakota; Three Affiliated Tribes of the Fort Berthold Reservation North Dakota; and Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians of North Dakota.
The tribes had wanted full reign of the state’s sports betting landscape in tribal-state gaming negotiations with Burgum last November. The governor denied statewide access, saying “a clear legal path does not exist for the governor to grant such a broad expansion of gaming” under state law.
Instead, the amended compacts with the five tribes allow them to offer any kind of online Class III casino-style gambling — including roulette, blackjack, and other casino games — on tribal land. Sports wagering is also classified as Class III gaming under the compacts.
“We are deeply grateful to the tribal chairs and their representatives for their collaboration throughout these many months of negotiations, and we look forward to continuing the mutually beneficial gaming partnership between the state and the sovereign tribal nations with whom we share geography,” Burgum commented in a statement after signing the amended compacts on Dec. 2.
Without statewide sports betting, however, the State of North Dakota is losing revenue according to the April 10 Bismarck Tribune article. The article said that estimates cited by Stemen indicate “138,000 North Dakotans are betting over $300 million annually, including $30 million in revenues to offshore betting books.”
