Legalized Sports Betting Could Be On Ballot in 2020 in South Dakota
In the summer of 2021, you could be making legal sports bets in the state of South Dakota.
Legalizing sports betting is once again being debated at the states capital and could be on the ballot in 2020.
SJR 501 has been proposed by Spearfish representative Bob Ewing and would allow the voters of South Dakota to decide whether or not to allow sports betting in Deadwood.
This would open up the doors for mobile betting and the legalization in the state.
Next it will move to a debate in the South Dakota State Senate this week.
Even thought this would allow for legalization and mobile betting, the expectation would be that Native American tribes in South Dakota would push legal action to try and control the mobile betting as they have in other states.
That litigation is ongoing, but as it is ongoing, those states have reaped the benefits of actual locations taking bets and has driven huge numbers in revenue.
Regardless, this would be a huge win for South Dakota and so many people are pushing their lawmakers to move this forward.
A prime example of the success comes from our neighbors to the east as Iowa has seen over $212 million bet on games, revenue reach over $19 million since August and raised $1.3 million in tax dollars.
According to legal analyst Daniel Wallach, if passed, South Dakota could see legal sports betting as early as the summer of 2021.