Legislative Round-Up: Arkansas May Go Full Hog For iGaming, Slow And Steady Progress In Hawaii

“March Madness” isn’t restricted to college basketball: State legislators continue to debate the merits of regulated online casino, mobile sports betting, and in multiple states, the legality of sweepstakes casinos. Much like the NCAA Tournament, the time is now for key bills to survive and advance.

Arkansas looks at iGaming

The basketball cognoscenti in Arkansas are ready for John Calipari’s Razorbacks to square off against Kansas in a 7-10 matchup Thursday evening. Meanwhile, lawmakers will contend with a bill filed Wednesday to legalize iCasino.

HB 1861, sponsored by Rep. Matt Duffield and Sen. Dave Wallace, would have a three-pronged effect in Arkansas. It would legalize iGaming via the state’s three casinos that currently offer mobile sports betting and ban both online casino sweeps and illegal sports betting activity.

The third component would allow iGaming to include drawings for Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) in which the net proceeds are divided between the winning participant and “any other affiliated organization with an Arkansas collegiate athletic program.” NIL is the primary method in which college student-athletes receive compensation in addition to scholarships in recent years. A well-funded NIL collective would be a boon to the flagship school University of Arkansas, which competes in the ultra-competitive SEC.

The House bill was referred to the Judiciary Committee, but the status of the companion Senate bill (SB 524) filed by Wallace on Wednesday is less clear. The bill, which was originally steered to the Insurance Committee, was withdrawn Thursday.

Oaklawn Hot Springs, Saracen Casino, and Southland Casino all have mobile sportsbooks, with online sports betting launching first at Southland via Betly in March 2022. Last year was the second full year all three venues had mobile betting available, and the $557.9 million in overall wagering was up 37.8% from 2023.

Hawaii sports betting bill continues slow march

The Rainbow Warriors are not in the field of 68 (now 64), but sports betting proponents in Hawaii chalked up a small win last week when HB 1308 unanimously passed out of the Senate’s Joint Committee on Economic Development and Tourism and Commerce and Consumer Protection.

There is still plenty of legwork remaining, however, in the legalization process. The bill would allow up to four digital operators, but finding common ground on licensing fees and a tax rate have to occur after amendments to HB 1308 in the lower chamber last month removed the proposed licensing fee and 10% tax rate.

Despite passing out of committee, notable opponents of the bill included the state’s Attorney General’s office, and the Department of Budget and Finance. In written testimony submitted to the House last month, the state’s Department of Taxation estimated $5.3 million in receipts for Fiscal Year 2026 with uniform increases to $6.3 million for FY 2031.

A stand down on Ohio’s sports betting tax raise?

Ohio-based schools got off to a good start with Xavier rallying to win its First Four matchup with Texas on Wednesday night, and Akron will try to spring an upset as a No. 13 seed Friday.

Gov. Mike DeWine, however, may need an upset of his own to get a second doubling of the state’s sports betting tax rate to 40%. According to the Statehouse News Bureau, House Finance Committee Chair and Republican Brian Stewart said a sizable portion of his party’s legislators do not support that increase, with the additional levies going into a fund to be created that any team can access for sports facilities projects.

“I don’t support these tax increases, and in my discussions with members, it’s clear that the majority of Republicans do not support them either,” Stewart texted to the publication. “But we will not determine anything concrete relating to the substitute bill until we receive and deliberate on members’ amendments.”

He added: “I think it’s very unlikely we include tax increases in this budget, but that’s my own view, and we will determine as a caucus what gets done in the weeks ahead.”

The Cleveland Browns recently proposed a $2.4 billion domed stadium, with the Haslam Sports Group asking for $600 million in state-backed funds. Owners Jimmy Haslam and Dee Haslam would provide $1.2 billion in funding, with the remaining $600 million coming from local funding.

DeWine doubled the tax rate from 10% to 20% in July 2023, and the state collected $181 million in receipts last year.

DFS doings in Texas

Texas Sen. Cesar Blanco last week filed SB 2752, a companion bill to HB 3980 submitted by Rep. Jared Patterson this month seeking to legalize daily fantasy sports under the embattled Texas Lottery Commission. The initial license fee for an existing operator would be either $500,000 or 8% of the operator’s AGR from the previous calendar year.

An initial fee for a new licensee in the state — defined as an operator who conducted no business in the state the previous calendar year — is $5,000 plus a supplemental license fee of the lesser between $5,000 or 10% of the AGR from the first year of conducting business. The proposed tax rate is 10% of operator AGR.

Sweeps news

New York: The Senate’s Racing, Gaming, and Wagering Committee approved a bill that would ban sweepstakes casinos.

Maryland: The Maryland Lottery sent a cease-and-desist letter to VGW on Monday in a crackdown on sweeps operators. VGW, one of the biggest online sweeps operators in the U.S., runs Chumba Casino, LuckyLand Slots, and Global Poker.

Connecticut: The Department of Consumer Protection suspended the license of High5Games, which is facing more than 1,000 criminal counts of conducting illegal gaming activity