The USA has always had a start-stop relationship with sports betting. There are opportunities on a state by state basis, but the country as a whole has never adopted the practice. Slowly but surely this is changing. From the start of the pandemic, when sports came to a halt, there has been an additional $7.1 billion plunged into online bets – up from previous highs of under $2 billion in early 2020. Certain markets are benefiting the most from the liberalization in gambling.
Everyday wagering
The biggest growth has been seen in casual online gambling. Betting websites that deal in games like Bingo and Poker or Blackjack are now more readily available outside of the classic gambling bastions of Las Vegas, Reno and Atlantic City. Indeed, NBC News recently profiled the inexorable rise of gambling as states across the country embraced gambling in casual betting as well as sports. While not as much tied towards the analytics and numbers game of professional sports gambling, this has been one of the key markets to see growth. This can largely be attributed to the rise of casual gamblers – those looking to use their extra cash at home given the rise of remote working.
Soccer gambling
Soccer has always been a popular gambling market. Europe has long had liberal betting laws; in the UK especially, going for a bet is part and parcel of the matchday experience for many fans, as much as having a drink and a pie. This is now moving into the USA, and especially so since the rise of moneyball in soccer franchises. Several clubs across the US markets and Europe have taken on this philosophy; Liverpool, run by the Red Sox owners Fenway Sports Group, being one of the most famous proponents. This makes betting a lot more tantalizing for the American market, which is often obsessed with stats.
Football growth
Aside from perhaps baseball, football is the most important sports betting market in the USA. While its growth isn’t unforeseen, it is unexpected in its magnitude. According to USA Today, the opening up of gambling laws in 23 states plus DC has enabled huge growth in football betting – including NFL and college. The latter is where the bank is really being made. College football is a huge matter in certain states, and in some of the most successful states the law is being opened up as a matter of haste. Michigan, Indiana and Mississippi are three of the most important states in college football, sharing success in the last year’s top 10. The fact that these states now host fertile gambling grounds is good news for the wider industry.
More needs to be done, of course. Texas is one big frontier – not only does Texas host two of the best football teams in the country, but it has a huge soccer-watching population, too. Ohio, Oklahoma and Georgia all tell similar stories but have old fashioned rules.
