By PIPER HUTCHINSON, Louisiana Illuminator/Tiger Rag
Scholarships and budget balancing are the main ways athletics programs at Louisiana colleges plan to use their allotments of gambling tax revenue under a new state law, but their exact spending might never be known because the law doesn’t require them to disclose it.
The first annual allotment of sports gambling tax revenue was made available to Division I schools with football programs this month. The money comes from the Supporting Programs, Opportunities, Resources and Teams (SPORT) Fund, created during the 2025 legislative session.
Each program — LSU, Louisiana-Lafayette, Louisiana-Monroe, Louisiana Tech, Grambling, Southern, McNeese State, Nicholls State, Northwestern State and Southeastern Louisiana — will each receive approximately $2 million annually. The law requires that money be used on things that benefit student-athletes, such as scholarships.
The fund was also created to assist athletics programs in navigating uncertain fiscal times for college athletics. The enabling legislation specifically mentions the money cannot be used to fund existing scholarships, but rather to provide new opportunities for students.
The Louisiana Board of Regents administers the sports gambling revenue distribution. Its spokesman, Chris Yandle, said there are no reporting requirements for university athletic departments that receive the money, and there are no penalties for schools that use the money in ways not allowed by the law.
Southern and ULM officials said they intend to use the money for new scholarships.
LSU athletics spokesman Zach Greenwell said the SPORT Fund proceeds will be used for new scholarships and to help mitigate rising tuition costs. The university has recently raised tuition for a number of high cost programs, including engineering, that could impact the cost of scholarships for athletes enrolled in those majors.
Officials at ULL, Nicholls and Southeastern mentioned using the funds to stabilize their budgets.
LSU is the only profitable athletics program in the state, though its most recent financial report from 2024-25 showed it made just $28,000. That report covered the last year before revenue sharing kicked in, which has created additional financial constraints for the university.
Though all athletics programs in the University of Louisiana System are operating in the red, occasionally creating fiscal challenges for universities as a whole, ULL’s program has the most severe budget deficit. The University of Louisiana System board documents shows it ended the previous fiscal year with a negative fund balance of more than $57 million.
“Those funds help cover the full range of athletics operations, including scholarships, travel, salaries and other program expenses,” ULL spokesman Eric Maron said in a statement. “By supporting those costs, the SPORT Fund reduces the level of institutional support required for athletics.”
The sports gambling money from the fund is not intended to be used for revenue sharing.
A settlement in the landmark federal case House v. NCAA requires college sports programs to share a portion of their in-house revenue with athletes. Division I schools can distribute up to 22% of their sports-generated income to their student-athletes annually, which comes to about $20.5 million for top-earning programs like LSU.
Louisiana Tech athletic director Ryan Ivey specifically mentioned using its SPORT Fund money to help meet obligations under the House settlement, though he said it would also be used for student-athlete welfare issues, including academic services and nutrition.
Grambling, McNeese and Northwestern State did not respond to questions about plans for their share of sports gambling revenue.
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