Legal sports betting in the United States is here! In May 2018, the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA) was struck down by the Supreme Court, allowing each state to decide what they want to do with sports betting. Click on your state below to get more details (double tap on mobile):
USA Map
Legal Online Sports Betting Is Here
In the state of Michigan, a common phrase is, “if you don’t like the weather, just wait 10 minutes”. This alludes to the fact that it seems the weather can change in an instant. The same can be said for sports betting legislation by state. Because there is so much potential tax revenue for the states, opinions can sway quickly.
While legalized sports betting is very exciting, there are still a lot of nuances in what is legal between each state. Some states have fully legalized both mobile/online and retail sports betting (New Jersey), while other states have not even seriously debated the issue (Utah).
Legal Sports Betting Status by State
It seems that states have had an easier time with approving retail sports betting (ex: going to a casino and betting at a sportsbook there) compared to legalizing mobile/online sports betting. This is a big deal because the vast majority of betting occurs on mobile for states that have legalized it. New Jersey has reported that over 80% of the amount wagered in the state came via mobile.
While online sports betting continues to be debated across the country, it is clear that online is where the money (and fun!) is. See below for a quick breakdown of where each state currently stands in terms of legal sports betting for both mobile and retail (table scrolls horizontally):
| State | Sports Betting Legal | Mobile | Mobile Apps/Sites | Retail | Retail Locations |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New Jersey | Yes | Yes | 13 | Yes | 11 |
| Pennsylvania | Yes | No | 1 | Yes | 8 |
| Nevada | Yes | Yes | 0 | Yes | 192 |
| West Virginia | Yes | Yes | 0 | Yes | 3 |
| Mississippi | Yes | No | 0 | Yes | 2 |
| Rhode Island | Yes | No | 0 | Yes | 2 |
| Delaware | Yes | No | 0 | Yes | 3 |
| Iowa | No | No | 0 | No | 0 |
| Indiana | No | No | 0 | No | 0 |
| Tennessee | No | No | 0 | No | 0 |
| Montana | No | No | 0 | No | 0 |
Legal Sports Betting Sportsbooks
Because each state can decide how they want to handle legal online sports betting, you get a wide range of presence by sportsbooks between states. For example, FanDuel Sportsbook and DraftKings Sportsbook are the two dominant players in New Jersey, while other states like Delaware are run by their state lottery.
Most states require sportsbooks to be attached to existing licensed casinos in their state. Therefore, most large sportsbooks have struck deals with major casinos with locations across the country. Such as FanDuel Sportsbook with Boyd Gaming and DraftKings Sportsbook with Caesars Entertainment.
See the table below to get an idea of where the major sportsbooks are operating across the United States:
| State | FanDuel | DraftKings | William Hill | PointsBet | PlayMGM | Caesars |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New Jersey | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Pennsylvania | Yes | No | Yes | |||
| West Virginia | Yes | No | Yes | No | ||
| Mississippi | Yes | No | Yes | |||
| Nevada | Yes | Yes | Yes | |||
| Rhode Island | Yes | No | Yes | |||
| Delaware | Yes | No | Yes | |||
| Iowa | No | No | No | |||
| Indiana | No | No | No | |||
| Tennessee | No | No | No | |||
| Montana | No | No | No |
