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NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA - JANUARY 01: A general view of the College Football Playoff semifinal game between the Clemson Tigers and the Ohio State Buckeyes at the Allstate Sugar Bowl at Mercedes-Benz Superdome on January 01, 2021 in New Orleans, Louisiana. Sean Gardner/Getty Images/AFP (Photo by Sean Gardner / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP)

It’s official! Legal sports betting is coming to Louisiana thanks to the final hurdle being cleared – that being the signature of Gov. John Bel Edwards. To the delight of Louisiana bettors, that came Tuesday with the signing of two Bills that officially enacted Louisiana sports betting into law. 55 of Louisiana's 63 parishes will gain the right to place a legal sports bet hopefully by the end of the year.

While it seemed like forever between the time that voters approved such a platform on the November 2020 election ballot, things actually moved quickly through the state’s legislative bodies. HB 2967 was drawn up and signed earlier this summer and provided the tax framework and after quick debate, SB 247 and the appropriations bill SB 142 were signed into law Tuesday.

Why Louisiana Will Be Such a Hot Market

Louisiana currently ranks as the 24th most populous states in the country with about 4.6 million residents. The state's sporting betting platform should benefit from the rabid fan culture among those citizens in the state as well as Louisiana's massive tourism sector.

When launched, Louisiana's sports betting providers are expected to draw from Texas, a state that is nowhere near launching their own sports betting platform, Oklahoma and Arkansas that have yet to legalize sports betting and Mississippi that has a retail-only sports betting platform.

Louisiana is also home to some major sports franchises and frequently hosts some of the biggest sporting events on US soil. There is the NFL's New Orleans Saints, the NBA's New Orleans Pelicans and one of the top college programs in the country, the LSU Tigers. New Orleans is the occasional host of the Super Bowl, the Superdome hosts annual March Madness games and there is no shortage of College Bowl games in the state.

It all adds up to a ripe sports betting scene for Louisiana.

What It Will Look Like

There will be a wide variety of betting options in the state of Louisiana. Currently, the platform is slated to allow 20 licenses for the state’s 20 riverboat casinos, horse racetracks, and single land-based casino in New Orleans. Each of those venues will be allowed two mobile skins with the Louisiana Lottery getting another. Bettors can expect betting kiosks to also pop up around the state.

Potential vendors will pay $250,000 initial application free with a $500,000 license fee for the first five years. Those same vendors will pay a 10% tax for retail and 15% tax for mobile on any of their monthly revenues.

About Those Vendors

Louisiana has an existing casino market meaning that some providers already have a presence in the state. Regulators are expecting all such providers to want to expand to include sportsbooks. They are also expecting a rash of other top-end providers to try gain a presence in the state.

Included are Boyd Gaming, Caesars Entertainment, the two DFS giants, and Penn National who all helped with the Louisiana Wins Campaign to promote sports betting in the state and other such betting Heavyweights as Bally's Churchill Downs, Golden Nugget, Fox Bet, PointsBet, theScore and WynnBET.

All of the big names are expected to be represented in the Louisiana scene which will be good for bettors and the state's bottom line.

Tax Coffer Top-Up

The Louisiana sports betting scene is expected to generate a boost for needy state and local tax coffers immediately. It was one of the reasons lawmakers and citizens were so open to legal sports betting coming to their state.

SB 142 stipulates where those tax dollars are expected to go. 25% is earmarked for Early Childhood Education Fund, up to $20 million, 10% will go to the Sports Wagering Local Allocation Fund, 2.5% to the Sports Wagering Purse Supplement Fund, 2% to the Behavioral Health and Wellness Fund, or $500,000, whichever is greater, 2% to the Disability Affairs Trust Fund, up to $500,000 and the rest, around 60% will go to the state's General fund.

“SB247 fulfills the wishes of the citizens in the 55 parishes that approved the referendum last fall to allow sports wagering and SB142 will help direct funding derived from this activity to early childhood education,” said Page Cortez, Senate President.

Everybody Wins

The Louisiana sports betting scene is expected to be robust right off the bat, meaning that bettors, betting providers and tax-based programs will benefit right away. PlayLouisiana, regulator of the platform expects the state "use rich natural advantages to one day transform into a sports betting market that will attract more than $2.5 billion in annual wagering and more than $200 million in operator revenue."

Just when Louisiana launches is a bit of a mystery, but the optimistic players feel that the end of the year is a realistic timeline. That leaves out most of the lucrative NFL season, but the Super Bowl looks to certainly be in play.