LA Commission Says All Sports Betting Tax Should Go to Child Development

Louisiana is looking for $85.8 annually to help with early child development in the state. The source of the money can be sports gambling, an expert commission argues.

Louisiana Wants to Invest More in Early Child Development

The Louisiana Early Childhood Care and Education Commission has released a new report. It recommends that all proceedings collected from legal sports betting should be forwarded to early childhood education. 

The commission believes that the state should move on to reallocate around $85.8 million for educating children aged from 0 to 3 and continue to increase annual spending over the next ten years, for a total of $839 million earmarked for early childhood learning. 

This follows up on a previous report that argued that Louisiana should be showing more interest in the issue. The commission is co-chaired by Rep. Stephanie Hilferty and Sen. Beth Mizell, both of whom are convinced that the state should try and catch up children to their peers.

Early childhood education is linked to higher IQ as well as generally better results in high school and college and higher problem-solving success. The commission argues that all 55 parishes that legalized sports betting this year should consider forwarding the revenue to the Louisiana Early Childhood Education Fund instead of to the state general fund. 

While betting sounds promising and a worthwhile source of revenue, nobody knows how much Louisiana stands to benefit from sports gambling. Earlier estimates total from $237 million to $332 million every year, which is way above the commission’s required amount.

The study was performed by Spectrum Gaming Group back in 2019 and may not accurately represent the amounts. However, the $332 million suggested by the research is the taxable amount, which could be levied with a 15% rate, leading to around $49.8 million every year to the Louisiana Early Childhood Education Fund.

While details are still being thrashed out, the commission is looking to secure the necessary amount to help children get a stronger start in life.