Minnesota Senate Committee approves amendment to aid horse tracks in legalization bill
The Minnesota State Government Committee approved an amendment on Wednesday that would give the state's two horse-racing tracks a share of sports betting revenue
The Minnesota Legislature is looking into legalizing sports betting, but horse-racing tracks have so far been left out of the initial proposal.
However, State Sen. Matt Klein has proposed an amendment that would allow the state's two horse-racing tracks to benefit from the legalization of sports betting, which would be taxed at 10%, with 30% of the tax revenue going to an economic development fund for the tracks capped at $20 million, and the two tracks would then split $3 million annually.
Despite the amendment, the tracks have yet to warm to the bill, and representatives from the two racetracks even spoke against the bill at the committee hearing, while Andy Plato, the Executive Director of the Minnesota Indian Gaming Association, testified that the casinos would still support the bill if racetracks received some of the revenue.