By TheNuts - May 28, 2022
Updated States w/Legal Sports Betting
Time, once again, 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?
Here we are four years to the month after the SCOTUS ruling, and Kansas becomes the latest state to legalize sports betting. On May 12th Kansas Governor Laura Kelly signed Senate Bill 84 into law. In an interview after the signing, Governor Kelly said: “Legalizing sports betting will bring more revenue to our state and grow our economy. This is another mechanism that casinos, restaurants, and other entertainment venues can now utilize to attract Kansans to their establishments.”
Earlier this year 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.
Since January, New York has already seen a record $6 billion in wagers and $400 million in revenue, unseating New Jersey as the #1 sports betting market in the USA!
Also, in the closing days of 2021, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine signed House Bill 29 into law, legalizing sports betting in the Buckeye State. Expect wagering to go live sometime this year!
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.
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 during this November’s elections.
So what about the remaining states? Legal scholars think most of the holdouts will eventually legalize it, mainly to keep from losing revenue to nearby states. Virginia is a classic example. Despite protests from the citizenry, The Old Dominion kept rejecting bills to legalize a state lottery and saw all that revenue go to lotteries offered in DC and bordering states 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.
Hawaii and Utah now remain the only states that outlaw all forms of gambling. In fact, Utah’s opposition to gambling is so severe that it’s written into their State Constitution!
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