Louisiana Sports Betting Signed into Law; Launch & Promo …

Louisiana Sports Betting Legal Update September 2021

Legal sports betting has passed in the State Congress. Now it is time for sportsbooks to apply for licenses through the Louisiana Gaming Control Board. There is a possible 41 online sportsbooks and 20 retail sportsbooks coming to the State of Louisiana. Each one of the 55 parishes with legal sports betting will have the chance to bet online with the regulated and licensed online sportsbooks in Louisiana once the betting launches. The Louisiana Gaming Control Board approved emergency rules for sports betting on August 19 and the rules went into effect on August 23. With that update, sportsbooks are hopeful for a launch at some point during the 2021 NFL season.

After a very long and hard-fought battle in the State House and State Senate of Louisiana, voters in the 2020 election were given the opportunity to vote on legalizing sports betting in their district, or as Louisiana calls them, parish. The ballot did not mention any exclusion or inclusion of online sports gambling, and instead, that decision was left open for regulatory bodies in 2021.

Louisiana became next in a long line of states in the Union to legalize sports wagering following the Supreme Court Decision that deemed the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992 unconstitutional. This was the bill stopping states from legalizing sports gambling, and now, the states basically have full control.

The November 2020 ballot had a simple question for each and every voter on whether they would like to legalize sports gambling within their parish. 55 out of the 64 parishes voted yes, making sports gambling possible in those locations.

The bill that this vote was attached to gave the regulation power to the Louisiana Gaming Control Board. They now hold all the cards for the future of sports betting in these parishes that have chosen to legalize sports wagering.

The election did not mean instant sports betting availability; the gaming commission, alongside lawmakers, had to create the regulations and tax laws revolving around sports betting. That has now been completed.

Many experts and some congressmen and women are hopeful for a late 2021 launch date for sports betting, possibly as soon as October. Now that legislation has been complete, it is all up to the gaming control board to finalize the licenses and get sports betting launched. This process was accelerated by the approval of emergency rules by the Louisiana Gaming Control Board, and permanent rules should be finished in the coming months.

2018 SCOTUS overturns a law that bans sports betting throughout the United States. This sets the stage for each and every state to make their own decision on sports betting.

March 2019: Daily Fantasy Sports is offered up in a bill proposed by the House; this was to set the groundwork for sports betting.

June 2019: The first attempt at a gambling law, including sports betting and daily fantasy, falls short. After putting together a bill for DFS, there was an attempt to sneak sports betting onto the bill, which made it fail in the state legislature.

March 2020: New sports betting bill is introduced to the House with much more promise due to the new faces in the state legislature.

May 2020: The House voted in favor of the sports betting bill, and then the Senate passed it two weeks later. This allowed for there to be a ballot measure asking each and every parish if they would like to authorize sports betting.

November 2020: 55 out of 64 parishes vote yes to sports betting, allowing it to launch in those locations. This vote also gave the Louisiana Gaming Control Board power to regulate sports gambling.

June 2021: The legislation to regulate and tax legal sports betting passed. This legislation lets up to 41 online sportsbooks to launch in the state. The Louisiana Gaming Control Board has the power to regulate and hand out licenses.

August 2021: The Lousiana Gaming Control Board approved emergency rules which went into effect on August 23. These emergency rules start the licensing process and allow for permanent rules to be established in the near future.

September 2021: Sports betting is likely to launch in October after Hurricane Ida forced a postponement of its legalization.

With the legalization of sports betting, residents of Louisiana are probably looking for where they can bet. While betting is legalized, there are no currently licensed locations or online sportsbooks in the state. Louisiana bettors will likely have many options once sports betting launches.

Online sports betting is the gold standard of sports betting. Tennessee is a great example of a state who actually went online-only and is pulling in millions in tax revenue in just its first month of sports gambling.

Online sports betting will be coming, and there will be a potential of 41 online sportsbooks. Each one of the 20 retail casinos will be able to apply for two online sports betting skins, and the Louisiana State Lottery will be granted one. However, online sports betting on laptops and smartphones will not be immediately available upon launch; that is likely to take a few additional months.

There are currently 20 normal casinos/race track casinos that are regulated by the state, as well as three tribal casinos in Louisiana. These are the places that will be given the opportunity to receive licenses one way or another over the course of the next year plus. You will be able to visit these casinos and place wagers on sports in accordance with the regulations provided by the state.

Offshore sportsbooks are a weird legal grey area. Nothing in Federal Law explicitly prohibits it. However, Louisiana is one of the few states that does seem to have room to argue that offshore sportsbooks are illegal in the state.

This was one of the big reasons to push for legalized gambling through the in-state casinos and, hopefully, online American sportsbooks; Louisiana wanted to give residents a legal alternative for sports betting.

Using an offshore sportsbook means that you are using an unregulated, uninsured, and unlicensed sportsbook to bet with. It is dangerous and not explicitly legal in Louisiana.

With Louisiana offering a possible 41 online sportsbooks in the state, there are some major players who will be racing to get into the Bayou State. These sportsbooks will also be vying for that coveted number one spot in the market in a very passionate sporting state like Louisiana.

DraftKings originated as a daily fantasy company but has made the move to offer sports betting. DraftKings Sportsbook is our top-rated sportsbook, and for good reason. DraftKings offers its users one of the friendliest new-user bonuses of a $1,000 deposit match bonus to make sure that you join the sportsbook on a good note.

Following joining, you quickly notice how many sports and different kinds of wagers DraftKings offers, including a full slate of prop-bets, future bets, live-game bets, parlays, and teasers. On top of this, DraftKings odds pricing is some of the best on these wagers.

DraftKings specializes in mobile sports betting. The user interface is fantastic and is extremely clean while being well organized. It will remind users a lot of the daily fantasy app that is also praised for these positives.

DraftKings has tons of promotions and daily odds boosts for existing users. This means that you can consistently get good value for money simply by choosing DraftKings as your sportsbook. However, the perks do not stop there as DraftKings also offers a wonderful rewards program that few other bookmakers can compete with.

Support is a little lacking on DraftKings as it has no instant live-chat or phone line to address problems immediately. It does have a FAQ page and a place to submit tickets, however.

FanDuel Sportsbook, which was recently acquired by Flutter Company, a gambling investment business, is our next top-rated sportsbook. FanDuel also started out as a daily fantasy website; however, it has moved into the online sportsbook game as soon as it was apparent that PASPA was going to be overturned.

FanDuel is one of the best-designed applications on this list, and its app, both mobile and browser site, is fantastic. It is very clean, organized, bright, and a joy to use. Everything from creating your bet slip to account management and deposits is straightforward with no technical issues.FanDuel has loads of sports and an incredible amount of wagers, including single-game parlays, which is a feature it is pushing very hard. Being able to place a parlay on a single game with spreads, prop bets, and more is a huge plus and a major bonus to using FanDuel.

The existing-user bonuses for FanDuel are plentiful, and all can be found in the promotions tab. However, FanDuel does not have a true rewards program, and you mainly have your choice of several great promotions each and every week to choose from to get value.

When it comes to the new-user bonus, FanDuel will most likely offer its $1,000 risk-free bet that you can use on your first bet slip. Having this much money on a wager completely covered by the risk-free guarantee is massive and gives a chance for first-time users to make loads of cash.

FanDuel lacks live agent support from live chat or phone line but has one of the most in-depth FAQs out there.

The online sportsbook provided by MGM International and GVC Holdings comes in at number three. BetMGM has been one of the biggest and most aggressive sportsbooks in the nation so far. It continues to make strides with professional partnerships and offers exclusive deals to its users due to these partnerships with teams from the NFL, NHL, MLB, NBA, and more.

BetMGMs sportsbook is great as a sportsbook. That means it has tons of sports, great odds pricing, good values on promotions, and has you covered when it comes to the betting aspect of things. It even has one-game parlays and an extensive pre-made parlay page to choose some great bets on.However, BetMGMs user interface could use some work. The app is organized and is by no means unusable. However, there is a lot of clutter, and you can experience slowdowns when searching for that perfect bet. Oftentimes, BetMGM pushes its value bets or promotions but does so in an intrusive way.

BetMGM support is one of the best out of any sportsbook. It offers live chats 24/7 to answer any question you need. It even has a place to upload documents to make the chat experience even faster and easier. It also has an FAQ and Email option.

The expected new-user bonus is a $1,000 risk-free bet

Caesars is NOT an offshore sportsbook as it operates in the United States and gets licensed in any state in which it offers its services.

Caesars may have too basic of an interface as it can be seen as a little old-school. However, the app and site are so easy to use, it makes for a great option for new bettors.

Caesars has, maybe, the widest selection of sports to choose from and a ton of bets in international sports due to its experience in those areas. This means that if you are looking into soccer bets or maybe international golf, then Caesar might be the best option.In terms of promotions, there is not a lot on Caesars nor is there a real amazing rewards program. However, the value on the normal odds is always pretty good. You can also get great valued parlays and teasers on Caesars.

The support is where Caesars shines, offering the trifecta of Email, live chat, and phone line. This means that Caesars has tons of ways to get in contact with support and help with your issues.

The new-user bonus on Caesars projects to be a $5,000 risk-free bet. However, Caesars is one of the sportsbooks that often changes up its new-user bonus based on the state.

PointsBet is an Australian-based sportsbook that is innovating the bookmaking game. PointsBet offers its PointsBetting, a system of placing wagers in which your stake can be multiplied in or out of the money based on how the bet goes.

PointsBet also offers a full slate of normal fixed-odds or traditional odds like spreads, Moneylines, prop-bets, and more. In-play betting is possible on the sportsbook, and it has one of the best bet slips for parlays and teasers.

The app, both on your phone or computer, is built fantastically. It is so clean, and the dark theme makes it very easy on the eyes when navigating the sportsbook for the perfect bet.PointsBet has a basic rewards program in most states that sees you earn free bet money by placing more bets. It also offers loads of odds boosts daily, as well as promotions.

PointsBet offers a live chat feature that is quick and can answer any one of your many questions about the sportsbook. It also has a help page with an FAQ.

The expected new-user bonus comes in at $1,500 in risk-free bets. This breaks down into $1,000 for PointsBetting wagers and $500 in fixed-odds wagers.

Fox Bet is the final sportsbook on our list and is one of the newest faces to the bookmaking game in America.

Fox Bet offers a classic sportsbook with nothing too special on it. It has loads of wagers at reasonable prices with all your favorite sports on it. However, it does lack a little bit in the design aspect here as it can be hard to find the wager you are looking for.

You can place parlays on the sportsbook, but it is very restrictive when it comes to single-game parlays. It would be nice to see this expanded. Live-game betting is available, and Fox Bet does a great job of having this part of its app running smoothly to place bets in a timely manner.Fox Bet has decent promotions but no fantastic rewards program. It does offer quite a few options for support, though getting into contact with a live agent requires submitting a ticket first. The FAQ page does have lots of answers.

The new-user bonus that is commonly offered is $500 in free bets, which is a nice bonus to start your sports betting career with.

Casinos will be the one avenue that should definitely be offering sports betting in the near future in Louisiana. Here are some of the top destinations in Louisiana that may be offering a sportsbook come the end of 2021 or the start of 2022.

Harrahs Casino is one of the largest casinos in the New Orleans area. Harrahs is a staple in the gaming and hospitality world and offers Louisiana a wonderful location for betting. Harrahs is owned by Caesars, which has a lot of experience offering sports betting in its other locations. This should be one of the best and one of the first places to offer sports wagering, giving New Orleans residents a place to bet.

LAuberge has multiple locations in the state, but its Baton Rouge location will give Louisianas capital city a fantastic location for sports betting. LAuberge has one of the biggest casino floors, and the casino should expand to add a sportsbook when it can offer one. This casino and hotel has just about everything you could want for a get-away, but most importantly will hopefully have sports wagering in the coming future.

Louisiana has arguably three major sports teams, with two of those being professional and one being collegiate.

The Saints are Louisianas team and a massive presence in New Orleans. I expect that when the sports betting finally goes live, sportsbooks will be taking tons of cash on these Saints. NFL bets are one of the most popular forms of bets, and the Saints are a huge organization with a great history in the NFC South.

The LSU Tigers, specifically in football, are a massive entity in the sporting world. As recently as 2019, LSU won a National Title on the backs of Joe Burrows insane performance. Hopefully, the Louisiana Gaming Control Board will allow for collegiate betting that allows for in-state college betting so that residents can put money down on LSU.

Sometimes forgotten, the New Orleans Pelicans have a major star in Zion Williams. The NBA franchise is working its way to becoming one of the better teams in basketball. NBA bets are huge, and wagering on the Pelicans will be a big part of Louisiana sports betting.

Daily Fantasy Sports was supposed to come to Louisiana in early 2020. However, there have been setbacks, and the release date continues to be pushed back. Hopefully, daily fantasy will be made available soon since the legal process was already accomplished to allow DFS to begin.

DraftKings is one of the originals in DFS and offers one of, if not the best, daily fantasy sports platforms. The amount of contests and sports you can play on DraftKings is remarkable, and it has a bunch of promotions for its users.

FanDuel has a very aesthetically pleasing daily fantasy platform. There are tons of contests for both sports and entertainment. If you want a daily fantasy platform that runs smoothly and offers you a bunch of choices, then FanDuel is a great option.

Monkey Knife Fight offers something slightly different from daily fantasy. Monkey Knife Fight offers primarily prop-bet games where you predict prop-bets and try to win cash in competitions. This is a bit of a hybrid when it comes to sports betting and daily fantasy. It is sports betting props with a daily fantasy contest and wagering process.

Yahoo Daily Fantasy has quickly climbed the ranks and become one of the best spots to bet. While it lacks the number of contests and sports as some of its competitors, the platform it offers is great. The design is wonderful, and the contests it does offer are extremely well done and a joy to play.

Louisiana does not have legal online casinos, and currently, there is no plan to allow them in the future. For now, the only way to play poker and casino games will be to go to a physical retail casino in the state.

Not yet, but hopefully by the end of 2021 or the beginning of 2022. Bettors in a majority of the parishes in Louisiana approved sports gambling. It is now up to regulators and the Louisiana Gaming Control Board to create regulations and hand out licenses to casinos or online sportsbooks so that residents have somewhere to bet.

Not yet, but there will be. A part of the legislation that was passed regarding sports betting in June of 2021 included the availability of a possible 41 online sportsbooks in the State of Louisiana. Many congressmen and women are hoping for a late-2021 launch.

21 is the legal betting age for casino games and most likely sports betting. This is a pretty universal number within states that have legalized sports gambling. The final decision will be up to the Louisiana Gaming Control Board; however, there is little chance that it is anything other than 21 years of age.

Bovada and MyBookie will allow you to bet on their offshore sportsbooks; however, the legality of this is up in the air when it comes to Louisiana as a state. These sportsbooks are unregulated and not licensed. This was a major reason as to why sports betting was legalized in the first place, to replace these unreliable offshore sportsbooks.

Currently, there are no legal sportsbooks in Louisiana. While casinos will be the first to allow sportsbooks, many experts expect DraftKings, BetMGM, and FanDuel to find ways to offer some sort of sportsbook in the state. Hopefully, these sportsbooks will be online and not just brick and mortar.

The expected launch date by many legislators is 2022; however, there is a chance that Louisiana gets its regulations together very quickly for a late 2021 launch. While sports betting is now legal in many parishes, there are still a lot of boxes to check with regulations before it is launched.

Yes, Louisiana will allow collegiate wagers in the state, including in-state college betting. This means that LSU and other in-state colleges will be eligable for wagers on the major sportsbooks that get licensed.

None yet; however, many of the major casinos like Harrahs and LAuberge Casino will be first in line to get licenses when the regulations are figured out. While sports betting got approved, the details have to be ironed out. It is also possible that these casinos will be allowed to partner with outside sportsbooks, like DraftKings, FanDuel, and others.

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Louisiana Sports Betting Signed into Law; Launch & Promo ...