The United States Supreme Court made a landmark decision in 2018 to legalize sports betting in the country, with states now free to make their own laws to regulate and allow the practice. This has meant that there is no uniformity across the country with regard to sports betting, with different states allowing and restricting different activities. For punters, betting online in the US has undoubtedly become much easier, but there are still quite a few states where this practice is not yet allowed, and so we will try and break down the current state of US sports betting laws across the country.
At present, 20 of the 51 states have legalized sports betting, while bills have been passed in six other states to legalize the practice. The majority of the remaining states have seen bills introduced to allow sports betting, with just three states where there has been no movement on legalizing this practice at all. This points towards a not-too-distant future where sports betting will be legal across the majority of the country.
The states which have legalized sports betting at the moment do differ on the types and modes of betting that are allowed. For example, states like Nevada and New Jersey allow both mobile and in-person betting, while the likes of Delaware, New Mexico and Arkansas, to name three, only permit in-person betting at the moment. Thus, in such states, punters would have to visit retail sportsbooks to place their bets, while allowing mobile betting would mean greater accessibility and therefore the potential for betting volumes to be much higher, which would also correspondingly increase the government’s revenues. Given the spread of the internet and the popularity of various online services, it seems to only be a matter of time before online and mobile betting is also permitted across a majority of states.
However, there are still some states that are unlikely to see any movement on this in the foreseeable future. In Utah, for example, the state’s constitution prohibits gambling in any form, so it would take a lot of political upheaval for gambling to be allowed there. Idaho and Wisconsin have not had any bills announced so far towards legalizing sports betting, and so it can be expected that these three states will probably remain the outliers in the USA for now, as every other state has either legalized the practice, or is in the process of doing so.
Of course, as we have seen, there will be differences between states in terms of what they allow and the mediums through which bets can be placed, but something is better than nothing, and the benefits of legalizing sports betting will probably increase the likelihood of regulations being relaxed as time passes and government coffers increase from betting proceeds.
Given how passionate Americans are about sports, we can expect to see a huge rise in betting volumes in the country as more and more states allow the practice in the months and years to come. If you are going to get into sports betting, just make sure that you get good analysis and advice. Doc’s betting tips will help you to make informed gambles.
