Sports Betting States – US States With Legal Sports Betting

States Where Online Sports Betting Is Considered Illegal

One state has taken an extra measure to strengthen their enforcement of anti-gambling laws to keep their residents from engaging in any form of gambling on the Internet, including online sports betting:

WA is the only state that has taken this approach as of early 2021, and has specific state laws that outlaw all forms of gambling on the Internet, regardless of the source. Their prohibition of online sports wagering does not mean that they won't legalize state-regulated brick-and-mortar sportsbooks, as Washington just passed a sports betting bill.

There are also a few states that have enacted laws specifically to prohibit state-regulated sports wagering, including:

We've seen that this can change as well, as Hawaii and Vermont already have pending sports gambling bills in their legislature.

The United States Department of Justice issued a Formal Opinion in 2011 clarifying that the Wire Act only pertained to US-based online sports gambling businesses. This freed up states to issue legislation that would legalize online casinos and poker.

However, the application of this law changed in 2018 with the repeal of PASPA and again in 2019 with another clarification of the law's reach post-PASPA. Now the Act simply prohibits any interstate gambling transmissions for all state-regulated gambling, meaning that state gambling businesses are not permitted to accept wagers across state lines. This interpretation is being challenged in court, so the application of the Wire Act could change yet again.

Until its repeal in May of 2018, PASPA was a federal ban that superseded states rights. There was an argument against the ban stating that it violated states constitutional rights. PASPA prohibited states from authorizing or licensing sports betting enterprises themselves. After being sued by the major sports leagues in the US, NJ decided to do something about PASPA.

New Jersey was victorious in their historic Supreme Court case where they are argued that PASPA violates their rights as they tried to authorize sports betting in 2014. SCOTUS ruled that PASPA was indeed unconstitutional and rendered the law null and void and has therefore placed the authority to regulate sports wagering into the hands of the individual states.

You can help with the ongoing US sports betting legal disputes by contacting your state representatives and encouraging them to vote on matters you support. Contact your state representatives and tell them to support sports betting legislation. If you visit our state bill tracker page - you will see a map with all the states. If you click on that map you will see a list of all pending bills for any given state. If a state is not 'clickable', you will know there are no sports betting bills pending for that state.

One of the most stringent protocols for any gambling sector is age verification. States have gambling age requirements to prevent minors from gaining access to both brick-and-mortar and online gambling platforms. Most states have a minimum gambling age somewhere between 18 and 21. However, most state-regulated sports betting platforms that we've seen launched require participants to be at least 21 years old, but there are a few exceptions. Be sure to check with your states gambling laws before participating in gambling to ensure you are within your legal limits.

Be the legal situation as it may, sports betting still happens. American bettors are flocking to regulated offshore sportsbooks or illegal online and offline bookies to place their wagers. Sports gambling is a billion-dollar industry.

To put things in perspective, check out this information provided by the American Gaming Association of sports betting statistics from Super Bowl LIV (2020).

The AGA is also estimating that a total of over $40 billion will be wagered on MLB games during the next season. Imagine if this type of revenue was being regulated. Since the market already exists, why not put regulations on it to make it work towards our mutual benefit?

A poll conducted before the repeal of PASPA by the Morning Consult asked NFL fans their opinions on sports betting legislation. Nearly three times as many NFL fans believed the federal government should lift the ban on sports betting. The majority also believed that individual states should have the power to decide if they want sports betting, not the federal government. Americans want to bet on sports, and they've made it clear.

To learn more about state gambling revenue, see our guide tosportsbook revenue by state, where we go into detail about each state's services and the money the local gambling industry is generating.

This depends on whether the 2019 DOJ opinion on the Wire Act will be challenged in court (though it has received a temporary injunction on its new "interpretation"). This new opinion flipped the domestic market on its head as it placed many restrictions on operations, forcing providers to be 100% intrastate-supported and compliant by mid-2019. However, New Hampshire and other states are attempting to challenge this opinion in court, and so far things are looking good.

Originally posted here:

Sports Betting States - US States With Legal Sports Betting