Sports Betting Goes Live in Louisiana, Wagers Now Accepted

• Paragon Casino Becomes First Louisiana Casino to Take Sports Wagers
• Paragon’s New Sportsbook, Called the Draft Room, Offers “Fan Caves” and More
• Potential Annual Sports Betting Tax Revenue for Louisiana Projected at $25 Million

Paragon Casino Becomes First Louisiana Casino to Take Sports Wagers

On Wednesday, Louisiana’s sports betting market officially launched when the Paragon Casino began taking sports wagers at 3 PM local time marking the end of a tumultuous journey to bring legal sports gambling to the Pelican State.

Getting to this historic moment required a lot of hurdle-jumping by the Louisiana Gaming Control Board (LGCB), including adopting an emergency set of rules and enduring a controversial leadership change.

But all that red tape has since been sliced and diced and not even a natural disaster like Hurricane Ida could not keep Louisiana state officials and industry leaders from bringing the potentially lucrative sports betting market to residents of the Bayou State.

Lawmakers and tribe leaders could not be more excited about Wednesday’s launch, with Marshall Pierite, Chairman of the Tunica-Biloxi Tribe, telling the press:

As a native Louisianan and Chairman of the Tunica-Biloxi Tribe of Louisiana, I am thrilled to help usher in sports betting to our state.

Paragon Casino, which is located in the city of Marksville and operated by the Tunica-Biloxi Tribe, now offers a sportsbook that should please LA punters looking for a semi-luxurious setting in which to place their bets.

Paragon’s New Sportsbook, Called the Draft Room, Offers “Fan Caves” and More

Paragon’s new sportsbook is known as The Draft Room and it joins the many other high-end sportsbooks now opening in the U.S. that are hoping to attract sports bettors who enjoy the finer things in life.

According to the press release, the Draft Room offers gamblers a whole list of amenities to enjoy, including:

• State of the art betting windows and kiosks
• Comfortable theater seating
• Video screen wall that allows “wall-to-wall sports viewing”
• Restaurant featuring an “extensive menu and 80 different beers”
• Three VIP ‘Fan Caves’

The ‘Fan Caves are special intimate rooms that contain a total of 112 televisions and can be reserved for private gatherings.

It’s all an attempt to grab a slice of the savory sports betting revenue pie that is about to start baking in Louisiana.

Potential Annual Sports Betting Tax Revenue for Louisiana Projected at $25 Million

When it comes to the cash cow that is a regulated and taxed sports betting market, industry analysts have been making some promising revenue projections for the state of Louisiana.

There could be as much as $200 million in operator revenue generated annually in the state, which, taxed at a 15% rate on online bets and 10% on retail betting, equates to anywhere between $25-$30 million.

Those lofty projections are based on the Creole State’s reputation as a proven tourist destination as Eric Ramsey, analyst for the PlayUSA.com network, has pointed out.

The state has long been home to a thriving casino industry, New Orleans itself can draw tourists from all over the country, and Louisiana is not bordered by another state that offers both retail and online sports betting.

Now Louisiana joins over half the states in the U.S. who have already launched their own legal sports betting markets, each now redirecting the existing gambling dollars that were flowing elsewhere back into their own state coffers where they can finally benefit the residents.