Louisiana lawmakers will soon explore whether to add legal online casinos to the state’s gambling options. If Louisiana State Senate members strictly adhere to the guidelines in Senate Resolution 149, legislators will convene by Oct. 1 and send their findings to the Senate by March 1, 2025.
According to the resolution Senators sent to Louisiana Secretary of State Nancy Landry on June 4, lawmakers are considering legalizing iGaming in order to raise revenue and rid the state of illegal online gambling sites. In a related matter, the state gaming regulator recently sent one of those illegal sites, Bovada, a cease and desist letter.
Meanwhile, the resolution provides vague guidelines for what tax revenue to consider seeking from iGaming operators. The measure also outlines online casino operators as providing “a legal online platform providing consumers with online slot machines and table games.”
Louisiana’s resolution notes current states offering online casinos and poker rooms within its borders have the following tax rates:
Fifteen to fifty-seven percent.
So members of the Judiciary B and Revenue and Fiscal Affairs Senate committees who will “meet jointly” beginning in October appear to be starting with a blank canvas.
Ohio lawmakers recently completed an iGaming study and sent the results to the Ohio General Assembly. The majority of committee members recommended adding online casinos.
Louisiana Studies iGaming in October
State Sen. Kirk Talbot, R-River Ridge, told Matthew Kredell of Play USA that he sponsored SR149 during the final week of the 2024 legislative session because he wanted to incorporate model gaming legislation in the study.
That model hasn’t yet been released.
In December, the National Council of Legislators from Gaming States (NCLGS) will likely present the model during its Winter Meeting at Caesars New Orleans.
Kredell discovered the committees may not meet by Oct. 1, but are scheduling an October gathering.
So, it’s unclear if that impacts their required handoff to the Senate by March 1, 2025.
Nevertheless, Kredell wrote on Aug. 23:
The Louisiana legislature convenes on April 14, a late start in 2025. However, with the study committee, NCLGS model and the senator’s aborted attempt this session, it appears highly likely that a Louisiana lawmaker will introduce online casino legislation for the first time next year.
Bonus and Play USA are Catena Media publications.
Louisiana’s Possible iGaming Revenue
Louisiana online sportsbooks launched in January 2022. Operators are taxed at 15%. That means state coffers have filled with $108,041,895 since sports betting began, according to Legal Sports Report.
That was also without the help of the following parishes, which voted against sports betting in 2020:
- Caldwell
- Catahoula
- Franklin
- Jackson
- La Salle
- Sabine
- Union
- West Carroll
- Winn
Splitting the state into gambling and non-gambling zones isn’t unusual for Louisiana. It’s been that way since gambling laws began in the state in 1806. That’s when “Louisiana established a prohibition against gambling, except in New Orleans,” according to A Chronology of (Legal) Gaining in the US. The paper is available through Digital Scholarship@UNLV, a service of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas Libraries.
So areas of the state may opt out of online casinos, which is a factor to consider when estimating possible revenue.
Once the study is complete, Senate committee members may also recommend a tax rate that may differ from the online sportsbook rate of 15%.
That said, Bonus finds that in states that offer iGaming and sports betting, online casinos account for about 70% of online gambling gross gaming revenue (GGR).
In Louisiana, sports betting GGR has been $817 million since its launch in the state with nearly 5 million residents.
Online casino bettors among the 13 million Pennsylvanians created $215.4 million in GGR in July 2024 alone.
Bonus and LSR are Catena sites.
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