Legislative Tracker: Sports Betting

States can now officially legalize sports betting if they want, after the US Supreme Court struck down the federal ban on May 14. Interest in the legalization of sports betting has been ramping up in the US recent years, even prior to that decision from SCOTUS.

2019 sports betting bills

There are now a variety of bills on file around the country and even some new laws on the books. Below is a look at current legislation by state. Four states in particular are very close to having legal sports betting.

• Iowa (Legalized May 2019)
• Indiana (Legalized May 2019)
• Tennessee (still pending governor’s action)
• Montana (Legalized May 2019)

States with legal sports betting

Seven states have legal, state-regulated sports betting industries.

• Nevada sports betting
• Delaware sports betting
• New Jersey sports betting
• Mississippi sports betting
• West Virginia sports betting
• Pennsylvania sports betting
• Rhode Island sports betting

In New Mexico, some tribes are now offering NM sports betting under an existing Class III gaming compact.

Other states on the way:

• Voters also legalized Arkansas sports betting this fall, though it will take several months to put the pieces in place.
• New York is proceeding with physical sportsbooks at upstate casinos as part of existing law.
• Oregon‘s lottery is going to offer sports betting because it already has authority to roll out new types of gaming and used to have a sports betting product already.

Here is a look via map (green = legal; yellow = pending launch; gray pending action to legalize):

The climate for sports betting legislation

The movement toward legal sports gambling began to surge as the NJ sports betting case was granted a new life in 2017. The US Supreme Court heard the case late that year and rendered a decision in 2018. The win for New Jersey means it and other states can legalize sports betting at their individual discretion.

In addition to the states with fully legal sports betting, a couple others have put partial laws in place pending further action:

• New York sports betting
• Connecticut sports betting

Legislative live streams

Want to follow along as a sports betting bill is considered in a hearing or legislative session. Here’s a guide to all the video and audio streams for US legislatures:

Previous sports betting bills

Here is the recent history of bills related to sports betting in the United States:

2018 legislation

2017 legislation

2016 legislation

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