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.

There are now a variety of bills on file around the country and even some new laws on the books.

States with legal sports betting

Five 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

In New Mexico, a tribal group is now offering NM sports betting under an existing Class III gaming compact. Voters could legalize Arkansas sports betting this fall, too.

In addition, two more state-regulated industries are expected to launch in the coming months:

• Rhode Island sports betting
• Pennsylvania sports betting

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

Current sports betting bills

These bills have been pre-filed for the 2019 legislative session:

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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