North Dakota Looks to 2022 for Movement on Legal Sports Betting

Dave Schwab Sports Betting Expert

2 minute read

The state of North Dakota has not passed any legislation that would pave the way for legal sports betting. However, behind strong support from certain state lawmakers, there is a continued push for change.

One legislative push took place in early 2021. A House resolution was geared towards putting the issue up for vote in November’s 2022 general election.

The ND House Judiciary Committee was in favor of the measure. However, it failed to move forward after being debated on the entire House floor. While it seems the issue is back to square one, support continues to grow.

North Dakota’s neighbors in South Dakota have helped the cause. A voter referendum in the 2020 general election gained a favorable response. Working through the regulatory process, legal sports betting went live in that state this September.

Lawmakers in the state realize that North Dakota is losing valuable tax dollars to a number of outside forces on the issue of legal sports betting. Putting together a cohesive plan to enact the proper laws has now become an issue that needs to be dealt with.

At the present time, there are six tribal casinos in the state. The biggest gaming venue would be the Dakota Magic Casino Resort. This casino is owned and operated by the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate Tribe.

Sky Dancer is another popular tribal casino. Over the past few years, this gaming venue has expanded its facility to accommodate more casino floor space and accompanying amenities.

Sports betting does exist to some degree in North Dakota through the tribal gaming system. The Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians have partnered with IGT PlaySports for their operating system.

The Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate Tribe is another gaming tribe that has partnered with IGT’s PlaySports betting platform. In June of this year, the casino announced plans for the opening of its retail sportsbook at Dakota Magic Casino Resort.

The legality of sports betting at tribal casinos is tied to each tribe’s gaming compact with North Dakota. Since tribal casinos are governed and regulated on a federal level, certain loopholes in the gaming compact can be used to expand gaming options.

The only form of legal online gaming in North Dakota that is specifically mentioned is mobile betting apps for betting on horse races. DraftKings and FanDuel can offer their mobile apps for daily fantasy sports (DFS) as games of skill.

North Dakota could move forward with a formal process to legalize sports betting in the state. The legislative efforts in 2021 may have paved the way for success in next year’s legislative session.

Written by Dave Schwab, our US Sports Betting Industry expert. You can learn more about our author's expertise here.

Dave Schwab

Dave Schwab has been covering the sports betting industry for the past 12 years as the main focus of his specialty marketing company for online content. This endeavor followed a previous career in the field of sales and marketing in the wholesaling sector.Most of his weekly pieces focus on the rapidly expanding legal US sports betting industry. However, he still does extensive work covering betting angles that can provide a competitive edge to avid players. Dave believes that it is always a challenge to take past results and current form to try and correctly determine a future result. Sports brings out the unpredictability in what should be a fairly predictable outcome based on the stats, facts and recent trends in a particular matchup. More from Dave Schwab