This week we look more in-depth at sports betting bills across several states, including Illinois, which just approved a massive gambling expansion bill that includes the regulation of wagering on sporting events. We also have updates for Tennessee and Pennsylvania sports betting.We also welcome to lovely showgirls from Carly’s Angels.
Howdy friends! J Todd here, back from Vegas, back in my studio, and back to deliver gaming headlines! So let’s get this party started with this week’s big story… several stories, actually.
As more and more states pass sports betting bills in this country, the whole process has become a bit convoluted. Some states have it… some states are about to have it… some states want it… some states want to be about to have it… some states are deciding if they want it or want to be about to have it… it’s just… convoluted! So let’s part the clouds a little bit and talk about sports betting that “was”… that is, states that already have regulated betting on sports. There are eight of them: Old favorites like Nevada, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware. But also some new states like New Mexico, Mississippi, West Virginia and Rhode Island.
Now, as we’ve discussed in recent weeks, we also have six states where sports betting “is”… that is, states where betting on sports is about to be live and legal and regulated… where sports betting bills have passed, but no bets have actually been taken yet. States like New York, Indiana, Iowa, Montana, Tennessee, Arkansas… and now you can add Illinois to that list! Yes, lawmakers in Illinois worked tirelessly throughout the weekend to get a sports betting deal done on the last day of the session, and now that bill will head to the governor’s desk for his signature. But the governor has been pushing sports betting, so don’t worry about that… this is a slam dunk!
That leaves us with states where sports betting “will be”… states like Oregon, where regulations are being worked on right now so that they can start accepting legal bets on sporting events. And Colorado, which will put the matter to a public vote this November to see if citizens of that state want regulated sports betting there. So at the pace we’re moving, we could have 17 states with legal regulated real money sports betting by the end of this year! And at this rate we could have thirty-five by the end of 2020! Fifty by the end of 2021… Sixty by the end of… 2022 ? ? ?
For clarification, a few of you may be wondering what happened in the state of Tennessee. A few weeks ago I reported that a bill to regulate sports betting had passed there and landed on the desk of the governor. I also reported that he refused to sign the bill. However, he didn’t veto it either, so very quietly that bill passed into law without his signature a few days ago, and sports betting will be regulated in the state come July 1st. Meanwhile Pennsylvania sports betting has been live for a while now, although online sports betting has been in a bit of a holding pattern… much like online casino games and poker. However, Sugarhouse Casino recently started live testing their sports betting mobile app, and it’s expected that all nine of Pennsylvania’s regulated online casinos will be offering real money sports betting by the launch of the NFL season.
Finally this week, one thing we did not discuss was states where sports betting will “never be” legal… states like… Utah here. But hey, Utah doesn’t even have a professional sports team, so…. And don’t leave me negative comments and write me nasty emails about how they have the Utah Jazz. Everyone knows the Jazz are not a real basketball team… they didn’t even change the name when they moved to represent something of the state… like, I don’t know… the the Utah beehives… or or the rocks… or the salties… I dunno… something!
