Which Sportsbooks Will Launch in Louisiana When Online Betting Starts?

Legal, mobile sports betting is expected to launch in Louisiana in the next couple of weeks. A go-live date has yet to be officially announced, but all signs are pointing to before Super Bowl LVI on Feb. 13.

While Louisiana sports bettors wait for the official launch, operators have been hard at work gearing up for the big day. Gov. John Bel Edwards signed Louisiana’s sports betting regulation bill in June 2021, allowing as many as 41 mobile operators to enter the Pelican State. The bill allows each of the state’s 20 combined casinos and pari-mutuel horse tracks to partner with two online operators apiece.

When Louisiana online sports betting goes live six sportsbooks will be available for bettors to choose from. They are:

• DraftKings
• FanDuel
• BetMGM
• Caesars
• Betfred
• BetRivers

More online sportsbooks could launch in the future. Other gaming operators with existing brick-and-mortar locations in the state like Penn National (Barstool Sportsbook), Churchill Downs (TwinSpires) and Boyd Gaming (Boyd Sportsbook) are expected to pursue licensure and open sportsbooks down the road.

Louisiana is the first state to approve mobile sports betting on a county-by-county (or parish-by-parish) basis. Fifty-six of the state’s 64 parishes approved retail and mobile sports betting in 2020. Sports bettors can place wagers from any approved parish, which includes those around Baton Rouge, New Orleans, Shreveport and most other population centers.

Although mobile sports betting is around the corner, in-person wagering has already begun — Louisiana opened legal retail sports betting in October 2021. Paragon Casino Resort in Marksville accepted the state’s first legal wager at its Betfred sportsbook.

The Pelican State will be just the third mobile wagering market in the South, after Tennessee and Virginia.