By TheNuts - Nov 06, 2020
Where is Sports Betting Legal in the USA Now?
With the United States elections now over, we thought it would be a good time to update this post from earlier this year.
In May 2018, the Supreme Court ruled that the 1992 federal ban on sports betting violated states’ rights. So, where are we today, a few days after the 2020 elections?
2019 ended with 14 states offering some form of legal sports betting: Arkansas, Delaware, Indiana, Iowa, Mississippi, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island & West Virginia. And while sports betting in these states is technically legal, each state has their own restrictions. For example, Delaware only allows physical sportsbooks, while New Hampshire only allows mobile wagering. Nine states allow both.
In January 2020, 6 more states came onboard: Colorado, Illinois, Michigan, Montana, North Carolina & Tennessee, plus D.C. They are all moving towards implementing either physical sportsbooks or mobile betting over the coming months.
Which brings us to November 2020. 3 states this week, Maryland, South Dakota and Louisiana all approved ballot measures legalizing sports wagering. Lawmakers from each state are now tasked with setting up regulatory frameworks.
Also, in Nebraska on Tuesday, voters approved changing their state constitution to make all games of chance legal, which should include sports wagering.
So what about the remaining states? Most of them are talking about it, with one exception: Utah. Utah’s opposition to gambling will be tough to overcome, as their anti-gambling attitude is written into their constitution.