By TheNuts - Jan 15, 2022
With the new year underway, we thought this was a good time to update the legal status of sports wagering in the USA. As you may remember, in May 2018 the United States Supreme Court ruled that the 1992 federal ban on sports betting violated states’ rights. So, where does legal online sports betting in the USA stand today?
As 2021 came to a close, Ohio became the 33rd state to legalize sports betting. On December 29th Ohio Governor Mike DeWine signed House Bill 29 into law. Expect the state to go live sometime this year!
And just days ago, New York, the fourth most populace state in the country, finally launched online sports wagering across the entire state. While this is great news for residents of the Empire State, it might turn out to be bad news for the Garden State, as many New Yorkers have been “crossing the border” to place wagers in New Jersey, which legalized sports betting years ago.
Fifteen states and the District of Columbia offer both in person and online sports betting. They are Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, D.C., Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, West Virginia and Wyoming.
Twelve states only offer in person sports betting and they are Arkansas, Delaware, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, Montana, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, South Dakota, Washington and Wisconsin.
Three other states only offer mobile wagering. Those states are New Hampshire, Tennessee and Virginia.
Along with the aforementioned Ohio, two other states, Florida and Nebraska, have legalized sports betting but haven’t implemented it yet.
Meanwhile, another two states, California and Georgia, may let voters decide this November.
So what about the remaining states? Legal scholars think most of the holdouts will eventually legalize it, mainly to keep from losing revenue to bordering states. Virginia is a classic example. They dragged their feet on legalizing a state lottery and saw all that revenue go to DC, Maryland and West Virginia instead. Virginia finally put it to the voters in a 1987 referendum, where it was ratified by over 56% of the electorate.
If you live in Utah, and want to make a sports wager legally, you might consider moving. Utah’s opposition to gambling will be tough to overcome, as their anti-gambling attitude is written into their State Constitution!