Hawaii lawmakers reject bill to legalize sports gambling

Hawaii lawmakers failed to reconcile House and Senate versions of a sports betting bill, leaving the state without legal wagering until at least 2026.

by Jeremy Yurow, Court House News,  April 25, 2025

HONOLULU (CN) — Hawaii lawmakers on Friday rejected the final version of a sports betting legalization bill during a joint conference committee meeting, effectively ending efforts to bring legal sportsbooks to the Aloha State this year.

The failure to reconcile differences between the House and Senate versions of House Bill 1308 means there will be no final vote next week before the legislative session ends on May 2. Hawaii law requires both chambers to pass identical versions of a bill before it can become law.

"We've been working on [HB 1308], and at this moment, it's very hard to get a compromise, and at this point we have a House and Senate disagreement," State Rep. Greggor Ilagan said during Friday's joint committee hearing. "So, what we could do is work on this so we can meet the deadlines and get a better bill next legislative session."

The bill would have established regulatory frameworks for online sports wagering in Hawaii, creating a licensing system administered by the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs. A 10% tax rate on gross gaming revenue and a $250,000 license fee were initially included, but the House later removed those figures from its version of the bill, with opponents pushing for higher rates on both.

Had it passed both chambers, Gov. Josh Green indicated he would have signed the bill into law.

"Look, as long as there's some safeguards with gambling addiction services and so on, if the Legislature goes the full way and passes it, I'll likely let it become law," Green told Hawaii News Now during an interview earlier this week. 

Honolulu's top city officials had strongly opposed the measure. Mayor Rick Blangiardi, Prosecutor Steve Alm and Police Chief Arthur Logan issued a joint statement on Thursday urging lawmakers to reject any sports betting legalization.

"Online sports betting is not harmless entertainment — it's a high-tech pipeline to addiction and financial ruin," Alm said in the statement. "These new gambling platforms are designed to be predatory, using data and algorithms to keep users engaged and spending well beyond their means. Ninety-six percent of online bettors lose. The consequences are real: mounting debt, family breakdown, and even wage garnishment for those who can't pay."

The Sports Betting Alliance estimates that Hawaii residents wager approximately $300 million annually, primarily through offshore websites and illegal bookmaking operations that employ runners to collect losses and deliver payouts.

Proponents of legalization argued that regulated sports betting would generate much-needed tax revenue for Hawaii while addressing the state's diverse challenges. It would have also established a Problem Gambling Prevention and Treatment Special Fund to be administered by the Department of Health.

The bill's failure keeps Hawaii as one of only two states, along with Utah, without any form of legalized gambling. Currently, 38 states plus Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico permit legal sports betting in some form.

Had the bill passed, Hawaii would have become the 40th state to approve mobile sports betting and the 32nd to allow statewide mobile wagering. The state's first legal sportsbooks would have launched no later than Jan. 1, 2026.

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