Arizona sports betting war brewing over NHL relocation plans

Arizona is facing a potential dispute over the interpretation of its sports betting laws concerning the relocation of the Arizona Coyotes to the Arizona State University (ASU) hockey arena next season.

The Coyotes, who play in the NFL, are planning to utilize the ASU arena for three years while a new $1.7bn, 40-acre arena and retail complex is constructed in Tempe, Arizona.

The ASU arena only holds 5,000 people and under Arizona sports betting laws, which were signed into law by Governor Doug Ducey in April 2021, professional sports teams can only operate retail sports books and mobile gambling operations if facilities can seat at least 10,000.

The Coyotes argue for the law to be changed, and this has seen legislation tabled in the Arizona senate, which was approved by Arizona’s senate appropriations committee earlier this week.

However, the last-minute measure, House Bill 2505, was opposed by representatives from the Arizona Indian Gaming Association and a number of native American tribes in the Grand Canyon State.

The tribes argue that the amendment of the law would unravel Arizona’s sports betting laws, in particular those relating to the new tribal gaming compact agreed with the state.

A lynchpin in the decision by the tribes to waive their exclusive right to operate gambling in Arizona was the limitation of how, when and where sports teams ran their gambling operations.

The tribes argue that the law should not be changed just so the Coyotes are able to move stadium. Arizona Indian Gaming Association attorney Bradley Bledsoe Downes questioned the last-minute measure.

In comments reported by the Associated Press, Bledsoe Downs said: “That was a compromise by the tribes as well as the professional leagues and teams, and to go back and change that understanding, especially less than a year later, for something that is really self-created … shouldn’t land at this body to address.”

Downs comments refer to the Coyote’s dispute with authorities in its current home of Glendale, a dispute which has facilitated the need to relocate.

In response, Coyote’s representative Andrew Diss confirmed the team’s intention not to open a retail sportsbook at ASU but that the change was to allow the continuation of its mobile sportsbook operation, run in partnership with SaharaBets.

Diss questioned whether a law change is needed to facilitate this but suggested that the Coyotes had received contradictory answers from state authorities over the issue.

“When you ask 10 different attorneys the same question, you get 10 different answers,” Diss said, in comments reported by the Associated Press.

“That does not give us a sense of comfort that we’re going to be able to maintain our online gaming license if we move to a facility with less than 10,000 people. That is what this comes down to,” he added.

Senators have also questioned the tribes’ opposition on the grounds the relocation will ultimately benefit the state.