On June 14, 2018, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy started the legal sports betting industry in the state with a $20 wager on Germany to win last year’s World Cup, and the New Jersey Devils to hoist the 2019 Stanley Cup. Murphy would eventually lose both wagers (France/St. Louis Blues), but less than a year later he and his state hit a lucrative, historic jackpot. Since the unanimous SCOTUS decision on May 14, 2018, to overturn the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA), a 1992 federal law that had essentially restricted single-game sports betting to Nevada and its famed Las Vegas sports books, legislation to authorize sports betting has either passed or is pending in 13 states.  More than two dozen other states are lining up to either consider such legislation or to activate new laws already on the books. By the end of this year, bills are expected to be considered in at least 35 states, according to Gambling Compliance, an industry research and consulting firm. By 2024, the firm estimates, as many as 40 states could allow sports gambling. Based on population, roughly 50% of Americans will live in states that have some form of sports betting by the end of next year. By the end of last year, Delaware, Mississippi, New Jersey, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and West Virginia had authorized legal sports betting. The expansion helped boost total industry-wide revenue from legal and regulated sports betting to approximately $430.2 million in 2018, up nearly 65% from $261.3 million in 2017, according to the American Gaming Association’s annual “State of the States” survey of the nation’s commercial casino industry. Gambling Compliance projects that the legal sports betting market in the U.S. could be worth as much as $7.9 billion in total annual revenue by 2024, and stretch across 40 states.