The Garden State, unfortunately, missed the opportunity to craft its sports betting legislation within this window. This led to the events of 2016, when New Jersey petitioned the country’s highest court to reexamine the validity of the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA) that prohibited wagering on sports nationwide. For further information on the legislative landscape in the country, check out this guide to the legal sites in the US.
SCOTUS Paves the Way for Legal Sports Wagering in the US
PASPA was eventually declared in conflict with the 10th Amendment and was deemed unconstitutional by the US Supreme Court (SCOTUS). This paved the way for individual states to craft and enforce their own sports betting legislation. The US has witnessed an unprecedented sports betting expansion after the overturning of PASPA.
Many states have already taken advantage of PASPA’s reversal and have crafted legislation to legalize this form of gambling. The state of Delaware was the first one to expand its market on June 5th, 2018 by adding bets on single games to its previous offering, which allowed for parlay betting on NFL events via the local state lottery.
Legal Sports Wagering Arrives in New Jersey
New Jersey did not wait for long to follow suit. The Garden State launched legal wagering on sports on June 14th, 2018, allowing local landbased casinos and racetracks to accept bets on a variety of events. The state’s Governor, Mr. Phil Murphy, made the first legal sports wager in New Jersey, backing Germany to win the World Cup with a future bet of US$20.
Local punters can now place wagers online via a dozen or so mobile apps as long as they are at least 21 years old. Some of the options for regulated sports betting in New Jersey include FanDuel, DraftKings, William Hill, Unibet, BetAmerica, and PlaySugarHouse. However, betting on local collegiate events and games held within the state’s borders is strictly prohibited.
Mississippi Embraces Betting Expansion
Mississippi is another state that framed a sports betting legislation. This even happened preemptively in case the nationwide ban against such activities was reversed by SCOTUS. Regulated betting on sporting events arrived in the Magnolia State at the beginning of August 2018.
The state presently allows for on-site betting at landbased gambling venues such as Hard Rock Casino Biloxi, Golden Nugget Biloxi, Harrah’s Gulf Coast, and Hollywood Casino Tunica, among a dozen others. Mobile and online betting is yet to be regulated in Mississippi, though, and is considered a gray area.
Pennsylvania Launches Regulated Sports Betting
To continue with our overview of the gambling laws in the US, let’s tackle the legal situation in the state of Pennsylvania. November 16th, 2018 saw the launch of regulated wagering on sports in Pennsylvania. Local punters have the opportunity to place bets both on-site and via several licensed online sites. The start of the sports betting expansion in the Keystone State was not plagued by the same issues New Jersey initially suffered.
New Jersey residents located in immediate proximity to the state border often had their payments and access to the licensed online sportsbooks declined. Thankfully for Pennsylvania punters, this problem was mostly remedied by the time mobile wagering arrived in their state.
They have a broad choice of sports betting options, including singles, multiples, propositions, and futures. In-play markets are also on offer but eSports are yet to be legalized in the Keystone State.
Following the reversal of PASPA, sports betting has taken the entire country by storm. States like New York, Arkansas, Iowa, Montana, Colorado, West Virginia, New Hampshire, RhodeIsland, Illinois, Michigan, and Indiana have all introduced legal frameworks to regulate such activities. Washington has also authorized retail betting but only within the territory of tribal lands.
States That Plan On Launching Regulated Sports Betting
Many other US states plan on launching legal wagering on sports within their borders. One of them is the state of Alaska, which tried to pass a couple of bills in early 2020 to establish a local lottery that would run sports betting. Unfortunately, the bills were both stalled because of the coronavirus breakout.
A similar thing happened in the state of Maryland where Senator Christopher R. West filed apiece of legislation (SB 58) that aimed at permitting local gambling venues and racetracks to provide legal sports betting.
This bill was also obstructed by the global pandemic but Senator West remains confident local voters and legislators would vote in its favor during the November ballot. A tax rate of 20% was proposed, which coincides with that for casino table games.
States without Legal Sports Betting
So far, Wisconsin, Idaho, and Utah are the only states that have made no efforts whatsoever to legalize sports betting. Utah, in particular, has a decade-long stance of vehemently opposing all forms of wagering, including lotteries, sports betting, and table games.
For the time being, residents of these three states have no other choice but to punt on unauthorized offshore sportsbooks that target customers from the United States without local licenses but this can sometimes be a risky venture.