Casino executives and staffers are hard at work getting ready for sports betting to begin and can continue for a few more weeks without a chair for the Gaming Control Board – the lead agency.
“That work can go on for a week or two or so, no problem, there’s nothing ripe for a decision yet,” said Wade Duty, executive director of Casino Association of Louisiana, the industry’s trade group.
“But we’ll soon get to a fork in the road, where executive decisions will have to be made,” Duty said Tuesday. “I’m not pushing the panic just yet.”
Gov. John Bel Edwards is aware that the package of new laws setting up and taxing wagers on sporting events goes into effect Thursday and that the board needs new leadership.
Mike Noel abruptly resigned rather than face questions from a legislative committee about actions he took as a State Police commander in 2019 after the brutal death of Black motorist Ronald Greene.
Edwards is looking at applicants and hopes to name a successor, “sooner rather than later,” according to his press office. Promoters are hoping to start the new gambling games early in the upcoming football season.
Republican state Sen. Ronnie Johns, who has three major casinos in his Lake Charles district, is said to be one of the contenders for the post.
Johns said Tuesday he has spoken to Edwards about the post and is interested in playing a leadership role on the Gaming Control Board, which the new law has given the lead role in what will be the largest gambling roll out since riverboat casinos were established in the 1990s.
“I’d be proud to do it,” Johns said. “I think I’d have a lot to offer because the board needs leadership to make sure the industry is compliant, clean and pristine during this critical time.”
Johns is meeting with the governor Wednesday when Edwards visits Westlake and Lake Charles for two groundbreaking ceremonies.
Sports betting is on the way in Louisiana as Gov. John Bel Edwards signed the legislation Tuesday to create the protocols and regulation of wa…
Several legislators, speaking on condition of anonymity, say the appointment could have been pushed to the backburner as lawmakers debate amongst themselves on whether to call an historic session to override the governor’s vetoes on several bills. Edwards has until Wednesday night to either sign or veto legislation passed during the recent legislative session. If he vetoes any more of the remaining bills, state law requires him to inform the House clerk and Senate secretary by Saturday.
In the meantime, though, staffers with the Attorney General, the State Police and the Gaming Control Board are working on the rules necessary for allowing people to wager on football, basketball, and baseball games as well as other sporting events.
Duty, of the Casino Association, said the 20 established casinos on land, over water and at racetracks, which the law gives first dibs on the 20 licenses for sports betting, already have been working out operating procedures and accounting protocols. “We have the experience of expectations from what other states have done” in setting up sports betting, he said.
Once the 20 applications are vetted and licensed, each of those licensed will be able to contract two providers to handle wagering over smart phones in the 55 parishes that voted to allow sports betting.
And the law requires the casinos to build out lounges from which bets can be made in person. Architects have the drawings, financing is being secured and access control measures are being finalized – ready for whatever fixes are necessary once the final rules are approved by the Gaming Control Board, Duty said.
While the rules are being drafted by staffers, there’s really nothing for the Gaming Control Board to do. But at some point, in the very near future, the Gaming Control Board will have to weigh in before the casinos can apply and for that to happen, a new chair will be needed, he added.
