WHAT IMPACT WILL THE LEGALIZATION OF ONLINE SPORTS BETTING HAVE ON THE US SPORTING WORLD?

On May 14th, 2018 the US Supreme court struck down the 25-year-old Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA), this was a highly anticipated move that opened up the gateway for individual states to legalize sports betting. 

PASPA being declared unconstitutional has led to seismic changes in the sports betting industry, this has transformed the US market. After 25 years of only legally being able to place sports bets in a handful of scenarios, now any state that wishes can legalize sports betting. New Jersey and Delaware were the first states to adopt legislation allowing sports betting. Swiftly after that around 25 other states started the motions to change their regulations and taken steps to establish their own regulated sports betting industries, out of 50 states only 3 haven’t introduced any recent bills. 

The regulations vary from state to state, each one sets its own legislation regarding sports betting. This sadly means that online sports betting is currently only legal in 7 states but this is constantly evolving, betting.us has compiled a list of the current legal status of sports betting in the USA.

The Sports Betting Gold Rush

Peter Jackson, chief executive of Flutter, which owns the Irish betting company Paddy Power Betfair, describes the opening up of the US as the most exciting development since the advent of online betting. The legalization has opened up a godmine, estimates for the size of the potential market vary greatly, Gambling Compliance, an industry research firm, values the market at up to $8.1bn in revenue terms by 2024, however, if the American Gaming Association’s estimation of illegal market’s valuation at $150 billion is accurate, the legal market could be far more lucrative.

Change is fast happening in America, this will have a huge impact on the sports betting industry but what will the impact be on the US sporting world?

The Affect Of Legalization Of Online Sports Betting On The US Sporting World

The combination of population and passion for sport gives America the potential to become one of the most lucrative sports betting markets globally. 

American sports tend to be long and data-heavy. The games watched by viewers, whether that be from the stadium, a sports bar or the comfort of their sofa, are enhanced by data, these technological advances over recent decades have changed spectators’ perception of the game. Viewers now have a wide variety of stats to inform them, they know exactly how fast the baseball is going and exactly how far it has traveled. 

The logical recipient of all this data is the betting industry. The potential for bets on the minutiae of the games is endless, placing bets on the speed of the baseball or number of yards traveled are called ‘prop bets’ and in the US the popularity of this in-play betting has expanded far quicker than many expected. If online sports betting is legalized placing “prop bets” may cause a fundamental shift in the philosophy of sport. Imagine sitting at home watching the final quarter of a professional football game with your team down 40, instead of focusing on of the lopsided level of play and being disinterested or disheartened by the end of the game, you could instead be far more interested in how many sacks a team gives up or how many conversion kicks are scored.

Most experts agree that the rise of sports betting will increase the appetite for sports consumption both via online media and traditional television streams. This is expected to produce the next major boost to the value of live televised sports, evidence shows that placing a bet on a sporting event makes fans pay closer attention to the game and watch more. This could offer a vital lifeline to the traditional sports television industry at a time when it is facing unprecedented competition from a wide range of digital media.

Gambling has the potential to help generate interest in new professional leagues and to breathe life into leagues that have lost their appeal over recent years. The Arena Football League once had nineteen teams, in 2018 it had just four. Ted Leonsis, the owner of two of these four, believes betting is going to help add value to the league. Arena Football games can generate a lot of data, the average touchdown is scored every 6 plays, and Leonsis believes ‘prop bets’ are the key to the regrowth of the league.