Eric Uribe

Sports bettors will have to wait a little bit longer for Minnesota legal sports betting to finally become a reality in the North Star State. A bill that would introduce legal, regulated sports betting has made slow but steady progress through an array of committees at the Minnesota Statehouse but is now stalled in the Ways and Means Committee.

The delay puts the bill at risk of dying when the Minnesota Legislature adjourns later this spring. That would add to frustration among legislators from both sides of the House, who have sought to change the law since the Supreme Court cleared the way for legal sports betting in the USA four years ago. Indeed, with the bill’s sponsor, Rep. Zack Stephenson, estimating that Minnesota residents are already wagering over $2 billion per year at offshore sportsbooks, many lawmakers are eager to get the sports betting bill passed and start collecting taxes generated by legal sportsbooks.

Wisconsin sports bettors were on hand, patiently waiting to get in on the action, as the second legal sportsbook in the state opened its doors in early April. The opening of a brick-and-mortar sportsbook at St. Croix Casino comes on the heels of the state’s move to legalize sports betting last November.

The launch of the facility in Turtle Lake followed the opening of the state’s first legal sportsbook at Oneida Casino in Green Bay last December. It was quickly followed by the opening of a second St. Croix facility on April 15, when the Red Zone sportsbook at the St. Croix Casino in Danbury, Wisconsin started accepting wagers.