Hawaii’s lawmakers don’t seem quite ready to legalize online sports betting in their state.
During Friday’s hearing before the House Economic Development Committee on two proposed bills to legalize mobile wagering in one of the last 10 states left to embrace the concept, one representative called out the industry on its promise to mitigate “the ills” that may accompany gambling.
Hawaii does not have any kind of legal gambling or a state lottery, but lawmakers have introduced nine bills this year that in some way relate to sports betting.
Could Hawaii, which doesn't even have a state lottery, be on the brink of legalizing sports betting. Jill Dorson takes a look…https://t.co/5meAU2dWNx
— Sports Handle (@sports_handle) January 29, 2024
‘What assurances can you offer?’ 3t1e1a
Consider this exchange from a Friday hearing on the bills — one that would allow for a monopoly on sports betting and online poker, and one that would allow for an open competitive market.
responsible gambling tools available and tracks player trends to prevent problems before they happen. Following her comments, State Rep. Elijah Pierick read from written testimony from the HPD listing some of the ills associated with gambling addiction, from suicide to bankruptcy to child abuse.
Pierick: “Can you tell me how this won’t happen in our state? … What assurances do you have from your group that this is false and what you guys are saying is true?”
London: “Thank you very much for the question, Representative. What I mentioned in my testimony is that, as I said, especially tech companies, we take a lot of pride in observing our s’ patterns and being to intervene before it becomes an issue. We really stress that the word is ‘responsible gaming’ and that responsible gaming is for everyone and that it is a form of entertainment and that it does not lead them down the paths that you were just describing. We also, in this bill, provide funding for additional for the small subset of the population that does struggle and needs additional resources. We take pride in being able to partner with states and the with the National Council on Problem Gaming to make sure that the people who do need those resources have them available while also introducing all of our players to different tools that allow them to play within their own means and to make sure that sports wagering is for entertainment and nothing beyond that.”
Pierick: “So, to clarify, with our economy being terrible, interest rates being very high, people being poor, your answer is that we are going to create rules so that poor people don’t use this tool to as an avenue to stay in poverty?”
London: “Can you repeat your question, Representative?”
Pierick: “You’re saying that regulation is going protect poor people from staying poor by gambling?”
London: “Well, so we employ tools that allow folks to wager within their means. You can set daily, weekly, monthly limits for both deposit and wager amounts, and we really encourage our s to use those, so they can have some skin in the game, but they’re not playing beyond their means. So it’s not just the regulatory side of things, it’s the ‘good actor’ side of things in of the regulated gaming companies. We care about our customers and because of that, we offer them tools to make sure they are gaming within their means.”
Bill sponsor felt compelled to explain tx8
After several additional questions to London and others about how state funding from legal gambling would be spent (operators do not offer an opinion on this) and who would regulate the industry, bill sponsor and committee chairman Daniel Holt said, “I’d like to ensure the committee and the public that my intentions for these measures are not to keep poor people poor. … Our tourism revenues are flat. It is to provide tourists another way to spend their money here so the state can have other options for revenue.”
There was no vote on either measure, but the what was clear Friday is that there is no consensus on whether or not committee uniformly embrace legal betting, never mind whether or not the full state legislature is in agreement on what a legal market should look like.
Traditionally, it takes states multiple sessions to lay the groundwork to a legal sports betting bill. The proposals discussed Friday marked the first time that Hawaii lawmakers have had any kind of meaningful discussion on the issue.
Another hearing on the House bill, HB 2765, is set for Wednesday. The crossover deadline for bills in the Hawaii legislature is March 7, and the session is scheduled to adjourn May 3.
