Hawaii Sports Betting Bill Fails to Gain Support in Congress

Hawaii Sports Betting Bill Fails to Gain Support in Congress

Hawaii Sports Betting

Hawaii dogged resistance to the introduction of legalized gambling, which includes online sports betting and casinos, is finally beginning to fade. 

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The State Online Sports Gambling in Hawaii 

After a vote on Wednesday, a proposal that would have authorized online sports gambling with the assistance of mainland businesses such as DraftKings and FanDuel failed to garner sufficient support to pass legislation this year, despite the growing enthusiasm behind the idea.

Because of this, it appears that there will be no other effort before Hawaii finishes its current session.

However, there is a growing chorus of voices condemning the myopic viewpoints of some legislators, with the majority of these voices coming from proponents of legalized betting on sporting events.

Pat Gibbs, a supporter of the Sports Betting Alliance, believes that despite the fact that gambling on sports is currently legal in Hawaii, the state is not permitted to participate.

There are at least 276,000 people gambling with offshore or unregulated sportsbooks, resulting in a total sports handle of $670 million. This money might have been run through the state’s legal companies, had such entities been present.

Gibbs was addressing the House Economic Development Committee at the time, referring to the findings of a study conducted by Ernst and Young that examined the state of the Hawaiian gambling market at its current juncture.

However, the research was flawed in a fundamental way since it extrapolated data from the national level and did not take into account the purchasing patterns of local consumers or the actual population of Hawaiians.

This was a critical oversight. Gibbs guaranteed, however, that this was not cherry-picking. He insisted that it was nearly impossible to collect genuine data from the unlicensed operators because such businesses would be hesitant to disclose their figures with the government or, accidentally, with their competitors.

The Legalization of Sports Betting

Not everyone shares the same opinion when it comes to whether or not gambling in sports has more positive than negative effects. Rep. Elijah Pierick has made the case that persons who engage in sports gambling are setting themselves up for financial hardship, irrespective of the market in which they wager.

Pierick asserted that gamblers are unable to win the majority of their bets because the odds are stacked against them and that this fact prevents them from doing so.

He was opposed by Rebecca London, who made sure that her company, DraftKings, is genuinely capable of taking a good look at player patterns and making sure that players are safeguarded from harmful gambling activities. This was Rebecca London’s response to him.

When it comes to sports gambling, both DraftKings and other regulated businesses step in to ensure that customers don’t go overboard with their spending and do a good job of keeping track of their funds, as London explained.

Nevertheless, there were unexpected shifts in attitudes. Rep. Daniel Holt, who was considered a supporter of gambling activities and a friend to those efforts, dealt a body blow.

Even though he claimed that legalizing sports betting was the only way to put an end to unlawful gambling in areas such as the Kalihi district, he ultimately voted against the idea on Wednesday, much to the dismay of many people and the contentment of the black market.

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About Lou De Aguila

Lou Aguila is a news and feature writer for Golden Casino News. For over a decade, Lou has published news and featured articles for some of the most reputable sports betting and online casino sites in the world, including BetNow.UK, VegasOdds, and BWin. Apart from being a hardcore live casino punter, he also covers sports stories in North American leagues from time to time.