Minnesotans have been making the trek south to place legal bets since a sports book opened in 2019 at the Diamond Jo Casino just across the Iowa border.
Sports betting coming to western Wisconsin, raising stakes for Minnesota
Final approval of sports betting at Turtle Lake Casino, about 90 minutes from downtown Minneapolis and closer to some Twin Cities suburbs, is imminent.
January 25, 2022 at 3:26PM
Soon, they will be headed east as well.
Wisconsin's St. Croix Chippewa Tribe and Governor Tony Evers amended their gambling compact in late December, paving the way for sports betting at the Turtle Lake Casino — located about 75 miles from downtown Minneapolis and even closer to some Twin Cities suburbs to the north and east.
A 45-day review process from the U.S. Department of the Interior, considered a formality, is almost over — meaning the book potentially could be open for the Super Bowl.
I talked about the news and what it might mean for Minnesota on Tuesday's Daily Delivery podcast.
I checked in with Minnesota state Rep. Pat Garofalo (Farmington), who said he remains "cautiously optimistic" that Minnesota will follow suit and add some form of legal sports wagering, though he added that there is "nothing concrete" in the works beyond discussions.
The state legislature is adjourned until next week.
Seeing the impact on neighboring states does have an impact, though as I wrote a few months ago the prospect of legalizing sports betting in Minnesota is a complicated one with many key stakeholders involved.
It will be interesting to see what sort of traffic Turtle Lake gets from the Twin Cities as a result of the new agreement.
When he was hired after the disastrous 2016 season to reshape the Twins, Derek Falvey brought a reputation for identifying and developing pitching talent. It took a while, but the pipeline we were promised is now materializing.
