HB 896

Abstract

Sports betting; Problem Gambling Treatment and Support Fund; penalties. Directs the Virginia Lottery (the Lottery) to regulate sports betting. The bill prohibits the Lottery from issuing any permits to conduct sports betting until it has developed and published a consumer protection bill of rights.Before administering a sports betting operation, an entity is required to apply for a three-year permit and pay a nonrefundable application fee of $250,000. Permit holders must apply for renewal of a permit every three years, which includes a nonrefundable renewal fee of $200,000. The Director of the Virginia Lottery may issue from four to 12 permits at one time and is directed to issue a number of permits that will maximize tax revenue collected pursuant to the bill. In issuing permits, the Director is required to give preferred consideration to applicants that are (i) certain major league sports franchises and (ii) certain casino operators.The bill prohibits betting on Virginia college sports and youth sports and prohibits proposition bets on all college sports. The bill prohibits betting by Lottery employees, permit holders and certain related persons, athletes and coaches with respect to events in their league, and persons under age 21. The penalty for engaging in prohibited betting is a Class 1 misdemeanor.The bill prohibits betting on the biometric data of an athlete without his consent and includes provisions for the Lottery to investigate prohibited conduct, such as attempting to influence an athlete or the outcome of an athletic event.The bill directs the Lottery to establish a voluntary exclusion program, which allows individuals to request that the Lottery exclude them from engaging in various kinds of betting activity.The bill allows the governing body of a sports league to request that the Lottery (a) limit or prohibit people from betting on events of the league that it governs and (b) restrict the information sources used to resolve bets that are placed after a sports event has begun.The bill imposes a 15 percent tax on a permit holder's adjusted gross revenue, defined in the bill. The bill authorizes permit holders to carry over and deduct net losses for up to 12 months.The bill creates the Problem Gambling Treatment and Support Fund, administered by the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services. The Fund is established to provide counseling to compulsive gamblers, implement problem gambling treatment and prevention programs, and provide grants to organizations that assist problem gamblers. The Fund is funded by 2.5 percent of the revenue generated from sports betting, with the remaining 97.5 percent accruing to the general fund.This bill is identical to SB 384.

Virginia Lottery; repeal prohibition against sale of lottery tickets over the Internet; sports betting; Problem Gambling Treatment and Support Fund; penalties. Directs the Virginia Lottery (the Lottery) to regulate sports betting. The bill prohibits the Lottery from issuing any permits to conduct sports betting until it has developed and published a consumer protection bill of rights.Before administering a sports betting operation, an entity is required to apply for a three-year permit and pay an application fee of $250,000. Permit holders must apply for renewal of a permit every three years, which includes a renewal fee of $200,000. The Director may issue from four to twelve permits at one time and is directed to issue an amount of permits that would maximize tax revenue collected pursuant to the bill. The Director also is authorized to issue a permit for a major league franchise to conduct in-person sports betting at a newly constructed facility.The bill prohibits betting on Virginia college sports and youth sports. It also prohibits in-play bets on all college sports. The bill prohibits betting by Lottery employees, permit holders and certain related persons, participants in athletic events on which the bet is placed, and persons under age 21. The penalty for engaging in prohibited betting is a Class 1 misdemeanor.The bill prohibits betting on the biometric data of an athlete and includes provisions for Lottery to investigate prohibited conduct, such as attempting to influence an athlete or the outcome of an athletic event.The bill directs the Lottery to establish a voluntary exclusion program, which would allow individuals to request that the Lottery exclude them from engaging in various kinds of betting activity. The bill allows the governing body of a sports league to request that the Lottery (i) limit or prohibit people from betting on events of the league that it governs and (ii) restrict the information sources used to resolve bets that are placed after a sports event has begun.The bill imposes a 20 percent tax on a permit holder's adjusted gross revenue, defined in the bill. The bill authorizes permit holders to carry over and deduct net losses for up to 12 months. The bill creates the Problem Gambling Treatment and Support Fund, administered by the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services. The Fund would be used to provide counseling to compulsive gamblers, implement problem gambling treatment and prevention programs, and provide grants to organizations that assist problem gamblers. The Fund would be funded by 2.5 percent of the revenue generated from sports betting. The remaining 97.5 percent of tax revenue generated from sports betting would accrue to the general fund.The bill authorizes the Lottery to sell tickets over the Internet. Under current law, it is prohibited from doing so. This bill incorporates HB 911.

Sports betting; Problem Gambling Treatment and Support Fund; penalties. Directs the Virginia Lottery (the Lottery) to regulate sports betting. The bill prohibits the Lottery from issuing any permits to conduct sports betting until it has developed and published a consumer protection bill of rights.Before administering a sports betting operation, an entity is required to apply for a three-year permit and pay a nonrefundable application fee of $250,000 as well as an additional $250,000 fee if its application is approved. Permit holders must apply for renewal of a permit every three years, which includes a nonrefundable renewal fee of $200,000. The Director of the Virginia Lottery may issue from four to 12 permits at one time and is directed to issue a number of permits that will maximize tax revenue collected pursuant to the bill. In issuing permits, the Director is required to give preferred consideration to applicants that are (i) certain major league sports franchises and (ii) certain casino operators.The bill prohibits betting on Virginia college sports and youth sports and prohibits proposition bets on all college sports. The bill prohibits betting by Lottery employees, permit holders and certain related persons, athletes and coaches with respect to events in their league, and persons under age 21. The penalty for engaging in prohibited betting is a Class 1 misdemeanor.The bill prohibits betting on the biometric data of an athlete without his consent and includes provisions for the Lottery to investigate prohibited conduct, such as attempting to influence an athlete or the outcome of an athletic event.The bill directs the Lottery to establish a voluntary exclusion program, which allows individuals to request that the Lottery exclude them from engaging in various kinds of betting activity.The bill allows the governing body of a sports league to request that the Lottery (a) limit or prohibit people from betting on events of the league that it governs and (b) restrict the information sources used to resolve bets that are placed after a sports event has begun.The bill imposes a 15 percent tax on a permit holder's adjusted gross revenue, defined in the bill. The bill authorizes permit holders to carry over and deduct net losses for up to 12 months.The bill creates the Problem Gambling Treatment and Support Fund, administered by the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services. The Fund is established to provide counseling to compulsive gamblers, implement problem gambling treatment and prevention programs, and provide grants to organizations that assist problem gamblers. The Fund is funded by 2.5 percent of the revenue generated from sports betting, with the remaining 97.5 percent accruing to the general fund.This bill is identical to SB 384.

Virginia Lottery; repeal prohibition against sale oflottery tickets over the Internet; sports betting; Problem Gambling Treatmentand Support Fund; Major Research Project Subfund; Sports Betting OperationsFund; penalties. Directs the Virginia Lottery (the Lottery) to regulatesports betting. Before administering a sports betting operation, an entity isrequired to apply for a three-year permit and pay an application fee of$250,000. Permit holders must apply for renewal of a permit every three years,which includes a renewal fee of $200,000. The Director may issue up to 10permits at one time but is directed to issue an amount of permits that wouldmaximize tax revenue collected pursuant to the bill.Under the provisions of the bill, betting on an athletic eventwith a participant under age 18 is prohibited unless such event is a college orprofessional event. The bill prohibits betting by Lottery employees, permitholders and certain related persons, participants in athletic events on whichthe bet is placed, and persons under age 21. The penalty for engaging inprohibited betting is a Class 1 misdemeanor.The bill directs the Lottery to establish a voluntaryexclusion program, which would allow individuals to request that the Lotteryexclude them from buying lottery tickets or participating in sports betting.The bill directs the Lottery to implement consumer protection measures.The bill allows the governing body of a sports league torequest that the Lottery (i) limit or prohibit people from betting on events ofthe league that it governs and (ii) restrict the information sources used toresolve bets that are placed after a sports event has begun.The bill imposes a 20 percent tax on a permit holder'sadjusted gross revenue, defined in the bill. The Lottery would retain 2.5percent of the tax revenue to defray its costs of administering the program.The bill creates the Problem Gambling Treatment and SupportFund, administered by the Department of Behavioral Health and DevelopmentalServices. The Fund would be used to provide counseling to compulsive gamblers,implement problem gambling treatment and prevention programs, and providegrants to organizations that assist problem gamblers. The Fund would be fundedby 2.5 percent of the revenue generated from sports betting. The remaining 95percent of tax revenue generated from sports betting accrues to the MajorResearch Project Subfund, a subfund of the Virginia Research Investment Fundcreated by the bill, to be used to fund grants or loans of at least $10 million.The bill requires the MEI Project Approval Commission to review grants or loansfrom the Subfund.The bill authorizes the Lottery to sell tickets over theInternet. Under current law, it is prohibited from doing so.