States eye sports betting, wrestle with regulation
NEW YORK >> Numerous U.S. states are considering jumping on the legal sports betting bandwagon, even as they struggle with the details of regulating it.
How much to tax it, and how to regulate mobile betting on phones are emerging as thorny issues for states.
So far, seven states offer legal sports betting: Nevada, New Jersey, Delaware, West Virginia, Mississippi, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island. And although New Mexico has not passed a sports betting law, the Santa Ana Star Casino & Hotel started taking sports bets last month through a tribal gambling compact.
At a sports betting conference Tuesday in New York, state representatives from Minnesota, New York and Ohio discussed their states’ interest in such bets. They’re also interested in making sure players are protected, taxes are adequate but not punitive and that mobile gambling is widely accessible.
Patrick Garofalo, a Minnesota state representative, said the betting public knows exactly what it wants, and it’s up to states and gambling companies to give it to them.
“The American sports fan has made a decision: they want to be able to bet on their favorite sports teams from their home,” he said. “They want to do it from their couch.”
The illegal, unregulated sports betting market is vast; Sara Slane, senior vice president of the American Gaming Association, cited estimates ranging from $150 billion to $500 billion.
“All we know is there is a
lot of money being bet illegally,” she said.
Vic Salerno, president of Nevada-based US Bookmaking, said the size of the illegal market is “unbelievable.”
“I know one guy that does $6 billion just himself,” he said. “It’s much larger than any of us can imagine.”
New Jersey won a U.S. Supreme Court case in May clearing the way for all 50 Rob Manfred said at Tuesday’s announcement. “I think that we have ensured ourselves on the integrity front by updating our policies, making clear what employees and players can and cannot do on the one hand, and on the other developing clear guidelines for the commercial activity that central baseball, meaning Major League Baseball will engage in and similarly the kind of commercial activities that will be allowed on the club level, as well.”
states to offer legal sports betting should they so choose. David Rebuck, director of New Jersey’s Division of Gaming Enforcement, predicted at least 12 states will move “very aggressively” to legalize sports betting in early 2019.
New York, one of the largest potential markets, has yet to pass sports betting legislation, but hasn’t given up.