The prospect of legalized sports gambling in Minnesota has gone nowhere at the Legislature despite early optimism — until now.

Sen. Matt Klein plans to offer an amendment Wednesday in the State and Local Government Committee to revive the issue. But Klein, DFL-Mendota Heights, said in an interview that the amendment is a late-hour effort to keep legalized sports gambling in play this session. He acknowledged its prospects for passage before the May 22 adjournment deadline are unclear.

A push to legalize sports gambling in Minnesota has been afoot in recent years and showed early promise this session. In late February, Klein and Rep. Zack Stephenson, DFL-Coon Rapids, introduced a bill to give rights for sports betting to the state’s Indian tribes, which already hold exclusive rights to offer casino gambling.

Since a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in 2018 allowed it, more than 30 states have legalized sports betting, including all Minnesota’s neighbors and Canada. When Klein and Stephenson introduced their bill, they were optimistic.

“Minnesotans are demanding sports betting really, and they are in many cases already accessing it on a black market,” Klein said at their February news conference. “And much as with Sunday [liquor] sales a number of years ago, they often don’t understand why their wishes are being obstructed by government and creating inconveniences in their lives.”

Stephenson declared the Legislature was “back to finish the job” it started in 2022 when the House passed his sports betting bill but the Senate did not.

But the bill went nowhere in the House or the Senate. Republicans voiced opposition immediately because the bill wouldn’t allow the state’s two horse-racing tracks to offer sports betting.

The self-described “godfather of sports betting,” Rep. Pat Garofalo, R-Farmington, said that without the involvement of Shakopee’s Canterbury Park, he wouldn’t vote for the bill. “And if I’m not voting for it, it is difficult to imagine any other GOP member does,” Garofalo said in February.

Klein said his amendment will include help for the two tracks, but it doesn’t include the sports betting licenses. If the amendment is adopted Wednesday, the bill must be considered by multiple committees before it would reach the Senate floor for a vote.