• Various states across the nation could still see sports betting legalized in 2020 for a 2021 launch.
• The Coronavirus pandemic may help lawmakers warm up to the idea because of the revenue it could bring to economies trying to come back from huge financial losses.

1. States That Have Legalized Sports Gambling
2. States That Legalized Sports Gambling
3. States That Legalized Sports Gambling Legalization
4. States That Legalized Sports Gambling Rules

Importantly, the road to legalized sports betting varies between the first three states and the second three. Louisiana, Maryland, and South Dakota look to have a clear path towards this goal – in all three states, voters will, via state-wide referendums, decide around November if they want legal sports betting. Online Betting: States where legal online sports betting has a long way to go. Be it conflicts with gaming rights of local Native American tribes or lack of demand, the future of legalized sports.

Various states across the nation could still see sports betting legalized in 2020 for a 2021 launch. The Coronavirus pandemic may help lawmakers warm up to the idea because of the revenue it could bring to economies trying to come back from huge financial losses. BOSTON - There are a number of. BOSTON – Seven states in 2020 have passed some form of sports betting measure to legalize the market and more states are rumored to fall in line during the 2021 legislative sessions. In 2020, Louisiana, Maryland, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Virginia, and Washington all passed bills to open up industries for gambling on sporting events or add. The state of play: Sports betting is now legal and fully operational in 18 states, plus Washington, D.C. Another four states — Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee and Washington — have passed bills legalizing it this year, but are not yet operational.

BOSTON – There are a number of states on the path toward legalizing sports betting during their 2020 sessions.

Although the Coronavirus pandemic has caused hearings to be put on pause or has led to shortened schedules for bills to be heard, the topic of gambling on sporting events is still being considered.

In fact, a general thought by many states in consideration is that sports betting becoming legal would be a helpful revenue stream to recoup money lost during the COVID-19 crisis.

States With Bills Still Open In 2020

Vermont is still in discussions on the legal gambling of sporting events. While they have a few bills that would actually legalize the activity, their latest bill, VT SB 59 would open a study on how betting on sports would affect their economy in all aspects of the market. LegalSportsBetting has spoken to Massachusetts, New York, and Ohio legislators for their bills that would make sports betting legal in those respective states.

Each interview resulted in the goal of getting legal sports betting in the states during the 2020 session. All three understand that the current focus is on how to deal with the damage caused by the Coronavirus but the idea that sports betting could help with the damage is not lost on them.

They have all concluded that once the biggest topics of conversation regarding their states and how to get them reopened have been resolved, budget discussions will be next on the list. This is where bills that center around legal gambling on sporting events would come into play as they could help with bridging deficits only made bigger by COVID-19.

Kansas, California, and Alaska are the last three states that have bills open this session to make sports betting a legal activity. Of the three, Kansas has had the most headway with two bills. One bill, KS SB 283, has gone farther than the other but Kansas Governor Laura Kelly will not move on it until proper amendments are made, one of which is the inclusion of an iLottery.

California would be a huge money pot should they allow legal sports betting to become regulated in their state as they are home to many of the top major sports leagues. Their bills are still open but they are being hit hard with the Coronavirus and have been locked down for some time.

States That Have Legalized Sports Gambling

Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy would like to make the pastime legal in his state but the bills proposed have not made much progress to date, however, there is still hope for them to do so this year.

Governor Dunleavy initially proposed the idea to help with Alaska’s budget and this was prior to the pandemic so the bills may have an even bigger edge in the aftermath of the global crisis for financial reasons.

Other States Requiring A Public Vote

Maryland, South Dakota, and Virginia are all states that have passed legislation to make sports betting legal pending a public vote in November 2020.

Once the constituents vote on the topic, the results will factor into the 2021 session regarding rules and regulations on the actual industry and what it would offer.

Louisiana is currently doing a similar referendum bill, LA SB 130, that is making its way through the House to become legal. Should it pass by June 1 then residents in each individual parish would also get to vote on making sports betting legal in the Pelican State.

The Final Result

If all were to go right with each state mentioned, that would mean more than a handful of new states in the nation could see legal sports betting in 2021. That would make the tally of more than half of the nation embracing the legal gambling on sports matchups.

At the end of the day, every state knows that their resident’s wager on sports, it’s simply a matter of whether or not they want to offer them a regulated and transparent way of engaging in the activity while having their economies profit as a helpful bonus coming off of a pandemic.

News tags: Alaska California Coronavirus COVID-19 Kansas Legal sports betting Louisiana Maryland Massachusetts New York Ohio South Dakota Vermont Virginia

Christina has been writing for as long as she can remember and does dedicated research on the newly regulated sports betting market. She comes from a family of sports lovers that engage in friendly bets from time to time. During the winter months, you can find Christina baking cookies and beating the entire staff at Mario Kart…the N64 version of course.

Sports betting in the United States has changed dramatically since May of 2018 when PASPA was repealed. In fact, the changes are taking place so quickly, it's actually a bit challenging to keep up. This is not a bad thing though - it means that the sports wagering industry is expanding to fill the void that US bettors have felt for the last several decades, and state lawmakers are on board for the most part with pioneering the launch of the domestic US sports betting industry.

Following PASPA's nullification, state-regulated sports betting has come onto the scene to provide a second avenue for betting along with the handful of trusted offshore sportsbooks that have legally and reliably provided their betting services to American sports fans for decades. To assist in helping everyone stay in the know regarding which states allow or prohibit these different forms of sportsbook gambling, we've broken the information down in a few different ways.

Where Is Sports Betting Considered Legal In The United States?

Before May 2018, only one state had full-service state-regulated sports betting options, that state being Nevada. At this moment in time, the number of states offering legal domestic sports betting is 19. In addition, US players are permitted to access offshore sports betting sites in most states except in Connecticut and Washington, where lawmakers have established state laws outlawing access to all forms of online gambling. Residents in every other state can legally access offshore sportsbooks without violating any type of state or federal laws.

List Of States That Have Already Legalized State Regulated Sports Betting

What states offer legal sports betting locally? Currently, more than 20 US states have legalized state-regulated sports betting options, though you can reduce that number by one if you consider the tribal loophole used by New Mexico Indian nations to not qualify as specific state approval.

A significant number of states have passed legislation to authorize sports gambling in their state but have yet to launch any sportsbooks while additional states have legislation pending.

Here is a breakdown of the states that have already passed legislation allowing domestic sports betting entertainment as well as states that have pending active legislation in the works. States with ** indicate that they have legalized state-regulated sports betting but have not yet launched any brick and mortar or online betting options.

• Arkansas
• Colorado
• Delaware
• Illinois
• Indiana
• Iowa
• Michigan
• Mississippi

• Montana
• Nevada
• New Hampshire
• New Jersey
• New Mexico
• New York
• North Carolina**
• Oregon

• Pennsylvania
• Rhode Island
• Tennessee
• Virginia**
• West Virginia
• Washington**
• Washington D.C.

List Of U.S. States That Don't Criminalize Offshore Betting

Even if you don't live in one of the above states which have passed legislation to legalize sports betting, there are still plenty of options to bet on sports while remaining within the confines of the U.S. law. The most important thing to understand on the legal side of things is that there are only 2 states which specifically make gambling via an offshore site illegal. These include Washington and Connecticut. So you won't be breaking any laws if you reside in any other state and choose to bet with an offshore sportsbook.

States That Legalized Sports Gambling

States Where Online Sports Betting Is Considered Illegal

A few states have taken an extra measure to strengthen their enforcement of anti-gambling laws to keep their residents from engaging in any form of gambling on the Internet, including online sports betting:

• Washington
• Connecticut

These two states are the only ones that have taken this approach as of early 2020. They each have specific state laws that outlaw all forms of gambling on the Internet, regardless of the source. Their prohibition of online sports wagering does not mean that they won't legalize state-regulated brick-and-mortar sportsbooks, as Connecticut has some betting legislation on the table right now and Washington just passed a sports betting bill of its own.

There are also a few states that have enacted laws specifically to prohibit state-regulated sports wagering, including:

• Utah
• Vermont
• Alaska
• Hawaii

We've seen that this can change as well, as Hawaii already has a pending sports gambling bill in its legislature.

Understanding States’ Rights

States That Legalized Sports Gambling Legalization

The United States Department of Justice issued a Formal Opinion in 2011 clarifying that the Wire Act only pertained to US-based online sports gambling businesses. This freed up states to issue legislation that would legalize online casinos and poker.

However, the application of this law changed in 2018 with the repeal of PASPA and again in 2019 with another clarification of the law's reach post-PASPA. Now the Act simply prohibits any interstate gambling transmissions for all state-regulated gambling, meaning that state gambling businesses are not permitted to accept wagers across state lines. This interpretation is being challenged in court, so the application of the Wire Act could change yet again.

Until its repeal in May of 2018, PASPA was a federal ban that superseded states’ rights. There was an argument against the ban stating that it violated states’ constitutional rights. PASPA prohibited states from authorizing or licensing sports betting enterprises themselves. After being sued by the major sports leagues in the US, NJ decided to do something about PASPA.

States That Legalized Sports Gambling Rules

New Jersey was victorious in their historic Supreme Court case where they are argued that PASPA violates their rights as they tried to authorize sports betting in 2014. SCOTUS ruled that PASPA was indeed unconstitutional and rendered the law null and void and has therefore placed the authority to regulate sports wagering into the hands of the individual states.

Make Your Voice Heard

You can help with the ongoing US sports betting legal disputes by contacting your state representatives and encouraging them to vote on matters you support. Contact your state representatives and tell them to support sports betting legislation. If you visit our state bill tracker page - you will see a map with all the states. If you click on that map you will see a list of all pending bills for any given state. If a state is not 'clickable', you will know there are no sports betting bills pending for that state.

Understanding The Legal Gambling Age Of Each State

One of the most stringent protocols for any gambling sector is age verification. States have gambling age requirements to prevent minors from gaining access to both brick-and-mortar and online gambling platforms. Most states have a minimum gambling age somewhere between 18 and 21. However, most state-regulated sports betting platforms that we've seen launched require participants to be at least 21 years old, but there are a few exceptions. Be sure to check with your state’s gambling laws before participating in gambling to ensure you are within your legal limits.

What The Future Holds For Legal Online Sports Betting In America

This depends on whether the 2019 DOJ opinion on the Wire Act will be challenged in court (though it has received a temporary injunction on its new 'interpretation'). This new opinion flipped the domestic market on its head as it placed many restrictions on operations, forcing providers to be 100% intrastate-supported and compliant by mid-2019. However, New Hampshire and other states are attempting to challenge this opinion in court, and so far things are looking good.

Sports Gambling - By The Numbers

Be the legal situation as it may, sports betting still happens. American bettors are flocking to regulated offshore sportsbooks or illegal online and offline bookies to place their wagers. Sports gambling is a billion-dollar industry.

To put things in perspective, check out this information provided by the American Gaming Association of sports betting statistics from Super Bowl LIV (2020).

• 26 million—Number of American adults to bet on SB54
• 5 million—Bets placed online/offshore
• $6.8 billion—Total Super Bowl betting handle
• $154.7 million—Legal bets placed in Nevada
• $6.65 billion—Gray-market bets placed everywhere else
• 97.7%—Percentage of all bets placed through non-US-licensed means
• 25%—Increase in total Super Bowl bets from the previous year

The AGA is also estimating that a total of over $40 billion will be wagered on MLB games during the next season. Imagine if this type of revenue was being regulated. Since the market already exists, why not put regulations on it to make it work towards our mutual benefit?

A poll conducted before the repeal of PASPA by the Morning Consult asked NFL fans their opinions on sports betting legislation. Nearly three times as many NFL fans believed the federal government should lift the ban on sports betting. The majority also believed that individual states should have the power to decide if they want sports betting, not the federal government. Americans want to bet on sports, and they've made it clear.

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