Americans drop $10 billion on regulated sports betting

Regulated sports betting in the United States is an idea whose time has definitely come and Americans are embracing their access to this newly legalized vice to the tune of nearly $10 billion since the Supreme Court struck down PAPSA. While that number is pretty impressive all on its own, it’s a number that will certainly grow larger as more and more US States embrace legal sports wagering as a means of raising revenue.
Sports betting’s massive success in the US is hardly a surprise to anyone who is familiar with the dynamics of the gaming industry. After all, wagering on the outcome of a sporting event is a hugely popular past time across the globe. It’s also an activity that Americans had no qualms about partaking in, whether it was legal or not. But legalization has opened a door, and Americans are poring in with sports bets.
According to a report by Wayne Perry of the Associated Press, regulated sportsbooks have taken in $8.9 billion since legalization. Of that figure, $5.2 billion was wagered in Nevada, which has had legal sports betting for decades. Another $2.94 billion came in from New Jersey, while the rest was split up between Delaware, Mississippi, West Virginia, Rhode Island and Pennsylvania (along with a small amount of tribal gaming revenue from New Mexico).
Of course the star of the show is New Jersey, where sports betting is seeing massive year-over-year growth – like 27 percent growth from 2018 to 2019.
Johnny Avello, head of digital sportsbooks for DraftKings summed up the situation in NJ and the rest of the country, saying, “Overall the first year in New Jersey has been spectacular, but to be honest, I couldn’t give you enough positive adjectives to serve justice to the question. The future is mind-blowing, and with eight states active and an additional seven authorized to offer sports wagering in 2019, DraftKings is positioned to capitalize on these and subsequent markets.”