Following the repeal of PASPA by the Supreme Court of the United States in 2018, many states opted to allow regulated sportsbooks to exist within their borders.
The process of regulating sports betting in each state differs, but across the board, several legislative steps are required that can often include more than one session and putting the issue on ballots for voters to weigh in.
Lawmakers had no idea that COVID-19 was on the way in 2018, but once it had its grip on the nation, efforts to erect or debut domestic sportsbooks were quickly cast aside for more important issues on the table.
In most cases, it wasn’t long before tax dollar shortfalls that were directly related to the pandemic began to capture the focus of politicians, and more often than not, sports betting was elevated as the solution.
What was once considered forbidden fruit by politicians, both liberal and conservative, is now the designated fix-all for states that are struggling to maintain their infrastructure and have no means of addressing their problems financially.
Still, with the pandemic continuing to spread, in-person venues are not as popular as usual. Brick-and-mortar facilities are dealing with reduced capacities, additional staff, and lower profit margins, all of which is affecting the bottom line
More importantly, the aforementioned factors were impacting the amount of money that tax collectors could expect to rake in.
Sports betting in Virginia is now underway via their mobile apps and the industry is thriving with very promising fiscal numbers being reported so far.
Tennessee has also recently rolled out their legal mobile betting applications and so far, revenues are exceeding projections.
Another factor in the sudden change of heart in many US territories regarding sports betting is the current federal and state gaming laws in place and their inability to do anything about offshore sportsbook sites that can legally accept bets over the Internet.
There’s not a lot that individual states can do to combat offshore sports betting sites, but even if they had the intent to do so, most do not have the means to execute.
Therefore, competing against these international sportsbooks directly is the only solution, and competitive markets allow for the customer to pick the betting site with the best options and value.
Once again, domestic books cannot run with the sportsbook sites that are based overseas because they offer more options such as political betting and wagering on entertainment odds for reality TV and competition shows.
Domestic sportsbooks do not cater to those types of wagers and feature a much narrower spectrum of lines and odds.
Offshore sports betting sites are more geared towards whatever is popular and tend to offer many more prop bets for major sports than USA-based sportsbooks.
A major advantage that brick-and-mortar sports betting venues have over mobile, online, or offshore, is the ability to earn an instant payout.
No matter how fast bandwidth speeds become, there is no getting around the multitude of regulatory hurdles and cybersecurity measures in place when making monetary transactions online.
That’s why state-run sportsbooks have retained a fighting chance against these offshore juggernauts despite not providing a better service.
Now it seems that mobile sports betting in New York may be on the table, as Governor Cuomo is anxious to expand sports gaming and tap into those dollars to pay off delinquent state debts.
Even southern stalwarts like Georgia are getting some skin in the game and moving toward legalizing mobile sportsbooks, so don’t be surprised to see some movement in your area over the next year or two.
Source – New York Times