Louisiana sports betting bill fails in House committee

BATON ROUGE - The House Appropriations Committee has killed a bill that would legalize sports betting in Louisiana.

The committee voted 15-6 against the bill Tuesday.

House Appropriations votes 15-6 AGAINST bill to legalize sports betting in Louisiana. #lalege — Melinda Deslatte (@MelindaDeslatte) May 28, 2019

Reports say casinos in Louisiana withdrew support. The Advocate reports that Wade Duty with the Casino Trade Association said they withdrew their support due to the amendments being "untenable."

Majority of the fees, fines and revenue collected from sports betting in casinos would go to the state's Early Child Education programs. One of those is the Childcare Assistance Program that is currently $27 million short in funding. The lack of funding is creating a large wait list for those who can't afford child care. The Executive Director of Childcare Association of Louisiana says she's disappointed to see the halt in legislation.

“We were surprised to see the outcome in the House Appropriations Committee,” said Cindy Bishop. “There’s a tremendous need and a lot of families would have benefited from this.”

Louisiana casinos withdraw support for effort to legalize sports betting. With the amendments loaded onto this bill, "it is untenable. You have now put enough baggage on this plane that it will not get airborne," says Wade Duty, heads of casino trade association. #lalege — Mark Ballard (@MarkBallardCnb) May 28, 2019

HB469, another bill that would legalize sports betting by amending the state's constitution, is still alive but has not been debated since April.