The 2025 Minnesota Legislature is expected to once again try to pass a sports gambling bill.  Minnesota is among 20 states where legalized gambling outside of casinos is prohibited. 

About two weeks before the annual session began, Sen. John Marty (DFL-Roseville) held a hearing where lobbyists spoke in favor of a new bill to legalize gambling in Minnesota. Marty is opposed to expanding gambling. Fellow DFLer Sen. Erin Maye Quade (Apple Valley) told MinnPost that she could support sports betting, but not on mobile phone apps.

The American Gaming Association says that more than $121 billion was bet on sports in the U.S. in 2024.

The Sports Betting Alliance, a lobbying group that represents four of the largest sports betting companies — BetMGM, DraftKings, FanDuel and Fanatics — argues that illegal betting “doesn’t have the same consumer protections as legal sites,” claimed spokesperson Blois Olsen.

Sports betting and playing fantasy sports is not the same, said J.T. Foley, executive director of the Coalition for Fantasy Sports that represents four fantasy sports companies — Underdog Fantasy, PrizePicks, Betr and Dabble. He was among the lobbyists who met with state lawmakers and spoke to the MSR at the hearings.

“There’s always gonna be that confusion,” explained Foley, who has worked in the gaming industry as a lobbyist for nearly 20 years. “A lot of people in the legislature either are not familiar with sports betting or fantasy. It’s an educational process.

“That’s a big part of my job and other people that I work with, is to go and educate the difference between fantasy and sports [gambling] products. It can be very confusing if you don’t know, if you’re not familiar with the products or you’re not familiar with sports itself.”

The most recent figures from the Fantasy Sports & Gaming Association (FSGA) show that revenue from Americans who are playing legal sports wagering and fantasy sports now exceeds $84 million, a 20% increase from 2023. These players are:

• 64% male, 35% female
• 48% are between the ages of 18-34
• 84% have college degrees or higher
• 65% have incomes of $50,000 or more
• Pro basketball (32%) is the most popular fantasy sport; 32% play baseball and 12% play hockey

We asked Foley and the FSGA for racial statistics but were told such data weren’t readily available.

However, the MSR did talk to “Jason” (not his real name), a young Black man who places bets on mobile apps as well as playing fantasy sports, more recently hockey. He says he knows many Blacks like himself involved in making bets regularly.  

Jason added that he doesn’t bet as much as he did before because he was finding himself becoming addicted to betting. “I was driving to Iowa just to make a bet,” he recalled.

Foley pointed out that his group strongly advocates “responsible play.” The Coalition fact sheet claims that “Gaming is entertainment, not a source of income” and recommends gamers “do not continue playing to recover losses.”

The Coalition last fall launched idPair, a new responsible gaming initiative. It allows individuals to self-exclude from one platform or all member platforms for an unlimited time.

“It’s a good, responsible gaming tool,” stressed Foley, adding that the individual who uses it will be assigned a unique identification number “so no one knows exactly who that player is,” he pointed out. “This is the first of its kind in gaming.”

Foley concluded that he hopes the Minnesota Legislature will pass a gaming law this year. “Fantasy sports has been here in Minnesota for quite some time now,” he said. “What we’re looking to do is to get some regulation to help define our games better, and help protect our games and our players, and along with that, get some tax revenue to the state.”

Charles Hallman welcomes reader comments to challman@spokesman-recorder.com.

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