Sports betting seems inescapable lately. If you watch cable television, you’ve probably seen several commercials for sportsbook apps in between your shows. If you follow financial news, you’ve probably heard about the massive profits brought to states by sports betting. And in sports talk, various partnerships between teams and betting platforms keep popping up. But why is that? What led to this newfound interest in sports betting across so many US states at once?
New Sports Betting Laws Changed Everything
The sudden love for sports betting started in 2018. Up until then, a law called PASPA put a federal prohibition on sports betting outside of Las Vegas. The Supreme Court repealed PASPA in 2018. With the lack of federal laws banning sports betting, states were then able to put forth their own local laws for sports betting and online gambling. Many states were quick to introduce and pass these measures in 2019. Covid and its lockdowns slowed progress through 2020, but the majority of states had their measures ready by 2021. Now, sports betting is legalized throughout most of the country.
Sports betting and online gambling legislation have seen little resistance because most people do want to have wider access to gambling. Certain moral organizations oppose these laws as they do all forms of gambling, and some Native American tribes have also contested the laws. For the tribes’ part, they just want to ensure future gambling deals adhere to the fact that they are legally supposed to be the controlling interest in US gambling business. When the state laws threaten their profits, the contest until a more amenable version of the law is put through.
A Simple Answer: Money
When states allow gambling, they get a cut of the revenue. This has been the biggest motivator for legal sports betting. After all, few would say no to a local economy boost in this climate. Online sports betting, and especially sports betting through apps, expands the business to people in every corner of a state. This has done wonders for revenue.
Numbers from every state that has legalized sports betting are impressive. The monthly revenue figures show millions being brought in from sports betting. This is consistent throughout the states, whether they be gambling powerhouses like New Jersey or smaller states like Michigan. Yes, even Michigan managed to boost its revenue by a few million from sports betting. The local economy in Michigan is in for a further boost as betting companies are investing in the state by making plans to install betting kiosks in sports arenas. Caesars licensed in Michigan, along with others, shows how easy it is for a state to attract business from sports betting legalization.
Little Risk, Great Reward
This proves to be the greatest benefit of legal sports betting: it’s easy to start making money. The same few betting companies operate sportsbooks, so they can start running as soon as the states allow. A huge amount of Americans love sports, making for an instantaneous usership for sports betting platforms. The fact that each state puts forth big revenue numbers from sports betting consistently shows how easy it is. Legalizing it opens up an easy way to make money and bolster the local economy, and the states see this. There’s little reason to oppose sports betting laws.
It really is that simple, and we’re sure to see more states legalize sports betting as the revenue keeps pouring in. Super Bowl 2022 is sure to be a defining moment for sports betting in the US. If Super Bowl betting shows a dramatic increase in revenue, and it should, the few holdover states are sure to legalize sports betting in time for 2023.
