A conference committee has about two weeks to come to an agreement.
Hawaii’s digital sports betting bill has hit a snag. HB 1308, which has made a surprising march through the house and senate, is headed to conference committee after the house rejected an amended version passed by the senate on Friday.
After moving through senate committees with no tax rate or application fee, both were added on the senate floor. In addition, the regulator was changed in a senate committee and the department of law is now named.
HB 1308 would allow for statewide digital sports betting with a minimum of four platforms. There would be no retail locations.
The bill initially had a 10% tax rate and a $250,000 application fee, but those were stripped in the house finance committee, where Representative Sue L Keohokapu-Lee Loy voiced concern that the application fee was too low.
It “appears rather low for an industry that makes billions of dollars”, she said. “I would love to see that licence fee go up ..
