A plan to legalize sports gambling advanced Wednesday out of a Minnesota Senate committee, with its sponsor expressing optimism about negotiations to win the support of the state’s two horse tracks.
“We’ve got to find a way to make the tracks at least not openly oppose it,” Sen. Matt Klein, DFL-Mendota Heights, said after the mostly party-line vote in the state and local government committee. But time is short with the Legislature’s deadline to adjourn in less than two weeks.
Klein introduced his change to the bill last week, but the committee didn’t vote until now. The bill’s next stop is the Rules Committee followed by the Taxes Committee. The question remains, however, whether Klein can find more money for the two tracks and get more Republican votes.
