Ducey signed a bill legalizing sports betting

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Earlier this week, the Arizona Legislature approved a key part of a plan making way for new opportunities to allow sports betting both on and off reservations.

The bill allows betting on college and professional sports at places owned by pro sports teams and at tribal casinos. Governor Ducey signed the bill into law.

We talked about this with Randy Randazzo, a reporter, at the Arizona Republic, and how it will affect the state. Randazzo explained when these bills will be in effect. He said they will take a couple of months.

Randazzo said by the end of the year people will be able to bet on a golf tournament or sporting event. He said they get to expand the casinos and that when one thing becomes effective, the other becomes effective.

We asked why there is a limited number of licenses and why there were so many given to professional sports enterprises. He said many of the lawmakers did question this as well but that the theory behind having a sports team run it is because they have a lot to lose.

Arizona is not the first state to do this. Virginia and other states have sports betting lounges in their arena, he said. They also have mobile sports betting. They can download the apps to their phone and wager from home.

He said the sportsbooks serve as a marketing tool for the companies to help people who are there who might need a hand. He explained the majority of it will be done virtually.

We also talk about the amount of money this will bring to Arizona’s general fund. They think that there will be some money, but it will not be huge. He said the casinos contribute more than 100 million dollars a year to the state, and they are going to expand from this.

Lastly, we discussed what got the gambling “train rolling” and who contributed to that. Randazzo said there was quite a bit of fighting around it, and it wasn’t easy, but they got there.

Randy Randazzo, Reporter, The Arizona Republic

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