Online sports betting can be fun, but many sports bettors like being able to put money down in person at retail casinos or horse racetracks. Fortunately, Louisiana’s upcoming sports betting industry will offer both means of wagering. Let’s take a look at the retail sports betting scene in Louisiana as it stands today and explore how it will evolve in the coming months.
Legal Sports Betting In Louisiana
Legal sports betting is finally coming to Louisiana thanks to two bills: SB 247 and SB 142. The former bill breaks down the regulatory structure for the industry. The latter bill focuses on revenue allocation for taxes and similar topics.
Between the bills, it has been established that sports wagering in both retail and online contexts will be legal in 55 out of 64 parishes throughout Louisiana. Furthermore, up to 41 operating licenses will be available between both types of sports wagering.
As a result, we can expect most national sports wagering operators to enter Louisiana sooner or later. There’s bound to be a lot of competition, which is a good thing for sports wagering enthusiasts.
Louisiana Sports Betting: What To Expect
At the moment, we only have a few details surrounding Louisiana’s sports betting industry. We know that the state legislature wants to launch the industry by the fall of 2021 to take advantage of the NFL season and benefit from increased tax revenue.
In fact, Paragon Resort Casino in Marksville, which is operated by the local Tunica-Biloxi Tribe, opened the state’s first retail sportsbook on Oct. 6, 2021, in partnership with Betfred Sports. Commercial casino sportsbooks have not yet been given the go-ahead. Neither has online sports betting.
More sportsbooks are sure to come, but the timing is unknown.
Other details of the sports betting industry include:
- A requirement for every sportsbook to partner with one of Louisiana’s land-based, Native American, or riverboat casinos. An additional license will be awarded to the Louisiana Lottery Corporation
- A tax rate of 10% for retail sports bets and 18% for online sports bets
- The Louisiana Gaming Control Board will oversee the sports betting industry and handle things like licensing fees and registration processes
There are not likely to be any limitations regarding what types of sports that people can bet on. Some states have made rules that prevent sportsbooks from offering bets on in-state college teams, but that is not the case in Louisiana. The sportsbook at Paragon Resort Casino allows bettors to place wagers on in-state college teams like LSU, Tulane, and Louisiana Tech.
Sports bettors will be able to wager on NFL games, NBA games, MLB games, and any other professional American sport, too.
Most popular sportsbooks will also likely offer betting markets for international sporting activities like rugby and more niche competitive events like darts and cricket. All in all, Louisiana’s upcoming sports betting industry looks bright.
Online Sports Betting Partnerships In Louisiana
At the moment, we can only speculate about the sports betting partnerships soon to come to the Pelican State. That’s because no official announcements have been made regarding which sportsbooks and which gambling organizations will partner up.
Louisiana’s sports betting legislation requires all sportsbooks to partner with either riverboat or land-based casinos. Each riverboat casino and land-based casino in the state will be granted “skins” for licenses for two sportsbook partners.
In total, this could result in several dozen sportsbooks operating within Louisiana’s borders.
Below, you’ll find a chart breaking down the prospective or announced partnerships between sportsbook operators, gambling organizations, and retail casinos.
| Sportsbook App | Partner Company | Partner Casino |
|---|---|---|
| BetMGM | Boyd Gaming | Amelia Belle, Delta Downs, Evangeline Downs, Sam's Town Shreveport, Treasure Chest |
| FanDuel | Boyd Gaming | Unknown |
| Caesars | Caesars Entertainment | Belle of Baton Rouge, Harrah’s Louisiana Downs, Harrah’s New Orleans, Horseshoe Bossier City |
| DraftKings | Unknown | Unknown |
| BetRivers | Rush Street Gaming | Coushatta Casino Resort |
| PointsBet | Penn National Gaming | Unknown |
| Barstool Sports | Penn National Gaming | Boomtown Bossier City, Boomtown New Orleans, L'Auberge Casino Baton Rouge, L'Auberge Casino Resort Lake Charles, Margaritaville Resort Casino |
| TheScore Bet | Penn National Gaming | Unknown |
| Golden Nugget | Golden Nugget | Golden Nugget Lake Charles |
| TwinSpires | Churchill Downs | Fair Grounds Race Course |
The Types Of Bets Taken At Sportsbooks In Louisiana
The sports betting industry in Louisiana will let you place a variety of bets at its in-person sportsbook locations and using online platforms.
Moneyline
Moneyline wagers are popular in part because of their simplicity. They require you to bet on which team will win the game. These bets will be popular with newcomers and experienced sports bettors alike.
Prop Bets
Prop bets are also called proposition bets. Rather than wagering on the outcome of a game or betting on how many points the teams will score, you bet on an outcome from during a game itself. For example, you can place prop bets like:
- Whether a player will hit a home run
- Whether a player will record a certain number of strikeouts
Prop bets are fun because they can be imaginative and creative where other wagers can’t. Many casual sports bettors also like these since the rules are easy to grasp.
Futures Bets
Futures bets involve wagering on the outcome of a future event or season. Some of the most popular futures bets have you bet on which team will win the World Series or which player will win the NFL MVP Award. Futures bets award higher payouts the further from the event outcome you put your money down.
Parlay Bets
Parlay bets are collections of single bets like moneyline or prop bets with proportionally higher payouts. You have to get every “leg” or individual bet of the wager correct in order to win the parlay bet. If you get even one “leg” incorrect, you lose the entire bet. Because of this, parlay bets are placed more often by experienced sports bettors than newcomers.
Point Spread Bets
Point spread bets require wagerers to “bet the spread” which means betting one of two things:
- That the underdog team will win a game outright or lose by less than a certain number of points
- That the favorite team will win by more than a certain number of points
These bets essentially involve wagering on the performance of both teams in a given match. They’re a little more complex but can be very fun once wagerers get the hang of them.
Totals Bets
Totals bets involve betting on whether the combined points between two teams will be above or below a certain total.
Louisiana Sports Betting Guide: How To Bet
The sports betting industry in Louisiana will likely be big right out of the gate. Let’s break down what you need to know about this industry so you’re prepared to take advantage of the best operators and most profitable betting lines.
The Three Most Popular Sports for Sports Bettors In Louisiana
Any sportsbooks in Louisiana will let you place wagers on a variety of sporting activities. The most popular will undoubtedly be the NFL, the NBA, and the MLB.
That’s in part because of the two major pro-teams that call Louisiana home: the NFL’s New Orleans Saints and the NBA’s New Orleans Pelicans. Naturally, basketball and football are two of the most popular sports in Louisiana. Both teams have their own diehard fans that would love the chance to put money down on their favorite sporting organizations and support their teams in this way.
Betting on the MLB will be popular, too. Louisiana doesn’t have its own team, but baseball is called America’s favorite pastime for a reason. People all around the country love it.
Is It Legal to Bet On Sports Outside Of Legal Sportsbooks in Louisiana?
Yes. Louisiana will allow online sports betting, which will let you place wagers from anywhere within state lines. Simply download a mobile sportsbook, sign up for a new account, and place your wager. You don’t even have to be a resident of Louisiana to place a sports bet in the Pelican State.
However, you will need to be within state lines to put your wager down or to collect your winnings. You’ll also need to be within one of the 55 parishes that approved sports betting in order to participate.
If you want to enjoy retail sports betting, you will need to be physically at a retail or riverboat casino or a horse race track to enjoy this activity.
Louisiana Sports Betting Timeline
The push for sports betting legalization in Louisiana started in November 2020, when the vote for legal sports wagering appeared on the state’s presidential election ballot. The vote asked Louisiana’s parishes to either approve or deny the construction of sportsbook operations within their territories.
The results were clear: after November 2020, 55 out of the 64 parishes in Louisiana voted to allow legal sports betting both in retail and online contexts. Only after this vote passed did more sports betting legalization efforts continue.
In early 2021, SB 247 and SB 142 were both passed by the state legislature, which then sent the bills to Gov. John Bel Edwards. He promptly signed these bills along with another sports betting bill, which allowed the laws to go into effect three weeks later.
In early July 2021, the Gaming Control Board announced its intention to open the application process for sportsbook operators. This will officially begin the launch of the sports betting industry. It will likely only take the GCB a few months to investigate and license the initial wave of sportsbooks.
Louisiana Sports Betting FAQs
Yes. Paragon Resort Casino became the first to open on Oct. 6, 2021. It is a tribal casino, however, and commercial casino sportsbooks have not been allowed to open just yet. When that happens, one that is likely to be at the forefront of the action is Harrah’s New Orleans. It’s likely you’ll find one at the Superdome in New Orleans, too.
Yes, but your options are limited. Sports betting is legal in Louisiana, but the only sportsbook that has opened is inside Paragon Resort Casino in Marksville. More sportsbooks are on the way, along with mobile sports betting apps.
Louisiana will let you place bets both at retail sportsbook locations and using online mobile sportsbook apps. The retail sportsbook locations will be attached to riverboat casinos, land-based casinos, or Native American casinos. You’ll also be able to place bets at the horse race tracks throughout the state.
Yes, but the only one that has opened is at Paragon Resort Casino. You can bet that most of the casinos in Louisiana will try to partner with at least one sportsbook sooner or later. Sports betting will bring in a lot of extra revenue for these organizations and the state government.
Not yet, technically. But each of the four horse race tracks in Louisiana will likely have a sportsbook constructed over the next few months. Then, you’ll be able to place bets on sports and place bets on horse races at the same location.
Furthermore, you can already place bets on horse racing by visiting the pari-mutuel racetracks in Louisiana. You can also place wagers using online horseracing apps like TVG, which are technically legal in Louisiana since they don’t count as a type of sports betting.
Yes. Any winnings you get from retail sports bets will be taxed at a rate of 10%. If you win anything from placing online sports bets, those winnings will be taxed at a rate of 18%. You’ll need to report those winnings to the IRS at the end of every year.
Not yet, but live or in-game betting will undoubtedly be offered at many of the most popular sportsbooks soon to launch in Louisiana. Operators like DraftKings and FanDuel offer stable live streaming and in-play betting platforms in other states where they are active. Once they come to Louisiana, they will offer this feature to Louisiana sports bettors as well.
Any Louisiana sports wagerers will need to be 21 years of age or older. This will be the legal sports betting age regardless of location or wager type.
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