That year, American bettors legally wagered more than $21 billion on sports, an all-time high. The market has grown rapidly, undeterred by the pandemic and the accompanying pause in sports that lasted for much of 2020. Sports betting in some form is legal in 22 states and the District of Columbia and is soon to be legal in another nine. Three years later, the court’s ruling – which invalidated the federal law that banned states from legalizing sports betting themselves – has given rise to a sprawling, regulated industry.

Instead, it functioned like a starting gun, setting off a lucrative race between businesses trying to get a foothold in an emerging market, state governments looking for associated tax revenue, and individual bettors who’d been waiting for decades for a legal way to bet on sports. The Supreme Court’s May 2018 ruling to overturn the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act didn’t itself legalize sports gambling in the United States. Monthly Issue The Risk & Reward of Globalized Sport

How big is uk sports betting market