Hello friends, and welcome to This Week in Gambling, where this week’s big stories are all about big money US gambling and sports betting! There are now 33 states with legalized, regulated sports betting in America… and more are on the way! With active legislation pending in eight states, plus the states that have legalized regulated sports betting are seeing record revenue numbers to kick off the new year! With the boost from Super Bowl betting, record-breaking numbers are being reported in Tennessee, Michigan, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Nevada, and who can forget New York State, where players wagered nearly half a billion dollars in the week leading up to the big game?!

And while US gambling in 2022 is off to a great start, the numbers from 2021 are finally in as well… and they’re not bad either! In fact, a record-breaking $53 billion in gambling revenue was generated all across the country, shattering the previous record of $44 billion set in 2019! Now the next big sporting events are coming up in just a few weeks, with March Madness. And with all this money just flowing hand over fists now, it really wouldn’t be too big of a surprise to see all sorts of companies trying to get a piece of the action. Companies like PayPal. Wait, PayPal!? More on them in a moment!

First, this week we have two fiery new game reviews to tell you about, starting with the Dragon’s Breath online slot from Microgaming, a five real game with bonus spins and a bonus round, along with Wilds, Scatters, and Cloned Reels. Players landing five of a kind on two or more reels will ignite the Double or Triple Flame features! Next up it’s Lava Gold from BetSoft! A cluster based game delivered on a 5×5 grid layout, it features Scatter Symbols, Volcano Wilds, and a Lava Meter that awards bonus spins when it fills! Both of these reviews and hundreds more are available now on our YouTube channel!

And finally this week. PayPal has not exactly been the most friendly company when it comes to US gambling transactions. However, with the rapid expansion of sports betting and online gambling across this country, PayPal is finally starting to see the light… I mean the dollar signs. They’re starting to see the dollar signs. While players in America cannot use their PayPal accounts for gambling, players in the United Kingdom are already doing so openly, sending money from PayPal to online casinos and online bingo sites. And now many industry experts believe this is a sign of things to come here in the United States. So, hang in there my friends! And maybe soon, very soon, PayPal will do us the honor of allowing them to handle our gambling transactions… for a small fee, of course.