Legalization Of Sports Gambling In The United States

Currently, under United States federal law, gambling is technically legal. However, each individual state is given the power to regulate or prohibit gambling as they please within their borders. As a result, the only states that allow sports betting are Nevada, Oregon, Delaware, and Montana (Waldron). Due to the illegality of sports betting in other states, America’s sports gambling prohibition is responsible for one world’s largest black market for sports betting. The amount that is legally bet on sports in Las Vegas is nearly $4 billion. However, an estimated $80 billion to $380 billion is wagered illegally through a shadow industry of offshore online betting houses, office pools and neighborhood bookmakers (Hobson). The cyclic nature of
When discussing the limits associated with a game, the physical boundaries associated with baseball was raised. These boundaries make it so that baseball has a unique type of engagement. Due to the fact that fans are able to catch foul balls, there is a whole new level of interaction with the game. Fans are actively and attentively watching the game in hopes that they can catch a ball (Limits Discussion 2/6/17). This is a type of engagement that is unparalleled in other sports. If sports betting is legalized in the US, another type of engagement with the sport will be introduced. A widely-believed reason as to why people bet on games is because they want to be engaged and invested (Roberts). This will make it so that baseball is not the only sport that offers such a unique type of engagement. Often, when a fan is watching the game of a team that they do not root for, that fan is not as engaged. However, betting creates a situation where even if you don’t have an emotional investment with a team, you’ll still want to watch the match. Additionally, there are many teams that don’t have large enough fan bases to sell all of the tickets to their games. By introducing this new type of engagement, the teams that are unable to do so will
Most of the benefits of the legalization relate to the fact that sports betting is such a large black market and by simply regulating it, the nation can see benefits in the economy, fewer people will be destroyed by gambling mistakes, the integrity of sporting events will increase, and fans will see a new type of engagement emerge. The United States is in a critical period for the legalization of sports betting with the move of the Raiders to Las Vegas and both the MLB and the NBA making statements on behalf of the legalization. In this imperative time, it is crucial that lawmakers see the potential benefits of legalizing sport betting and realize how much it can help the