There has been a long history of a central location in the United States, where Nevada has been the legal home of sports betting.
Until 2018, the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA) was a law which essentially limited all sports betting for the last 25 years to Nevada.
Since being declared unconstitutional in 2018, legal sports betting has spread across the United States at an electric pace.
Each state now has the legal right to decide whether to legalize sports betting and gambling in their individual states. How the manage these new laws is also up to them within certain remits, for example setting the revenue tax levels bookmakers must adhere to.
The market has grown incredibly over the first few years of different states legalizing in person betting as well as online betting.
Data Bridge Market Research analyzed the market and in 2021 valued the Sports Betting Market at $76.75 billion. It is expected to continue to grow over the next eight years to a whopping $167.66 billion by 2029.
Since New Jersey brought and won the case against PASPA, there has been more than $125 billion spent on sports with legal gambling outlets in the United States.This increase has happened over four years now as the ease of access has made sports betting available to a massive new market for bookmakers.
Where to gamble in each state is thrust upon viewers of sports games as well as general advertisements during television programs all across America.
A key reason the push for legal sports betting was made was the protection of those who want to bet on sports and have previously used unlicensed bookmakers. By control the market, robust consumer protection measures can be put in place as well as protection and support for anyone affected by gambling addiction.
There new, legal providers have now been able to be used in the eradication of illegal providers who have, at times, been part of organized crime.
For the benefits of the states that have decided to legalize sports betting, the source of new tax revenue has been a key component in decision making. Sports betting has been able to sweep across the nation as lawmakers discover the further revenue which can be put to good use across their state through sportsbook tax revenue.
30 states have so far made sports betting, including Washington DC, New Jersey, Colorado and Arkansas.
Delaware, Maryland, Mississippi, Montana, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, South Dakota, Washington, and Wisconsin only allow in person betting at this time, not online.
Those that only allow online betting are Tennessee and Wyoming.
Maryland has legalized in person betting and their laws on online betting are currently pending.
Maine, Massachusetts, and Ohio are pending confirmation on both in person and online sports betting laws.
Nebraska is a state which currently does not allow sports betting but the laws on in person sports betting are currently pending and could be introduced in the near future.
The big state for sports betting which is still to be determined in California. It is a humungous market which sportsbooks and online casinos are especially keen to break into. Issues with tribal casinos and commercial gambling companies as made the potential outcome unclear and hard to predict.
Many lawmakers have been keen to legalize sports betting in the state and there are two referendums on the ballot which require over 50% of the votes to pass.
The first referendum is around in person sports betting which the tribes and operators of casinos and racetracks are more in favor in of the two. The second refers to online sports betting which would allow all residents in California to make bets from their homes, no longer needing to visit the tracks or casinos.
Should California legalize in 2023 it will be a huge boost to the bookmakers and the industry will hit another massive spike in revenue through the sheer quantity of new customers available to them.
Idaho and Utah both have not legalized sports betting and are very unlikely to do so any time soon.
In Kentucky, efforts were made to legalize sports betting in 2022 but those bids failed. There are currently no plans to make another attempt in 2023, the same can be said for Oklahoma.
Vermont are looking into the possibility of legalizing online sports betting soon, but there is still no clear idea which way they will end up deciding.
The industry is growing at an alarming rate for some states, and the laws being introduced are being developed with help from other countries such as the United Kingdom where a number of bookmakers from the UK have made the move across to the United States as well.
Laws on advertising and much more are still being developed in places, but most of the nation has welcomed this law change and Americans are very much keen to wager on their favorite sports each week.