Louisiana to legalise sports gambling soon

The US state of Louisiana is likely to make sports betting legal soon. Governor John Bel Edwards has publicly supported the move. He pointed out that sports wagers would be tagged for use in boosting early childhood education.

The governor said, “I want to be in a position to actually do [sports gambling] in Louisiana because we know it is happening in Mississippi.” He asserted that allowing the sports gambling industry to flourish at the state’s casinos would make them competitive “so that the rest of their gaming isn’t diminished by the fact that patrons skip our casinos in order to go, for example, to Mississippi.”

If Louisiana state lawmakers approve sports wagers, it still might take some time before the activity is introduced. Once those legislators sign off on any bill, Edwards would have to give the green light and then each parish in the state would be given the right to determine, most likely through a vote, if the activity should be allowed in their districts.

Edwards said that during the press gathering that he would like to see all revenue from sports gambling go to early childhood education. He feels that this is fundamental in helping to reduce performance gaps that are seen between wealthy and poor students and between Caucasians and people of colour. He added, “We have way more than our fair share of students who show up and are not ready to learn and we don’t catch them up. If we are serious about education in Louisiana, this is just something we are going to have to do.”