A Senate Judiciary Committee will take up a proposal to allow voters to legalize sports betting at casinos and race tracks in their parishes today.
Louisiana Family Forum President Gene Mills opposes the legislation, and says any revenue generated would be offset by the social damage caused by increased gambling.
Mills says a UL study indicated there were nearly 200,000 problem gamblers in the state.
But bill sponsor, Metairie Senator Danny Martiny, says there’s already an active sports betting black market, and while the law may increase the overall amount of gaming in the state…
Martiny warned that not passing the legislation will result in depressed revenues for Louisiana casinos who will lose business to other states, and drive away new potential gaming investors.
A constitutional amendment to exempt diapers and feminine products from the state sales tax unanimously cleared its first committee, and is on its way to Senate Finance, where it previously died. Amendment sponsor New Orleans Senator JP Morrell says there’s precedent for the exemption…
If passed local municipalities would have the option of exempting the items from local sales tax as well.
Overall Job growth in the state remains steady yet the Houma area is one part of the state that remains the weak spot for employment. Workforce Commission Director Ava Dejoie says the area lost approximately 2-thousand jobs from last year in a city of roughly 34-thousand. Dejoie says she’s hopeful that rising oil prices can stem the losses.
The majority of the job gains in the state were in New Orleans, Baton Rouge, and Lafayette.