The post Don’t Expect 2024 To Be A Banner Year In Sports Betting Legalization appeared first on SportsHandle. Chances for legalization look slim in most states, though some retail-only states could add digital betting. The post Don’t Expect 2024...
The post Don’t Expect 2024 To Be A Banner Year In Sports Betting Legalization appeared first on SportsHandle.
Since the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act was overturned in May 2018, 28 U.S. jurisdictions have launched digital sports betting. The most prolific year was 2019, when betting apps went live in eight jurisdictions, and the second most prolific was 2023, when six locales launched.
In 2024, at least two states will go live. Vermont is set to launch operators as early as 12:01 a.m. on Jan. 11, while North Carolina‘s regulator is aiming for a launch date sometime after the Super Bowl and before the summer. Those two states could well be the only ones to launch mobile betting in the coming year.
Twenty-two states currently don’t offer digital betting and 12 don’t offer wagering in any form. Of those, there are several that may never be legal sports betting states, including Utah, where gambling violates Mormon tenets. Meanwhile, states like Alaska, Hawaii, and Idaho have barely considered legalization.
It’s also unlikely that the two biggest non-legal states — California and Texas — will legalize in 2024. There could be another ballot initiative brought in 2024 by another commercial group in California, but the tribes have already promised to quash it, and the Texas legislature will not be in session until 2025.
Will sports betting be shut out in ’24?
The next biggest states without betting — Georgia, Minnesota, and Missouri — are far from sure things, even for retail legalization. All three have been grappling with their own unique set of issues while discussing legalization for three-plus years and enter 2024 with the same unresolved issues.
“As I’ve mentioned before, 2024 is shaping up to be the first year that sports betting gets shut out since the fall of PASPA in 2018, but that doesn’t mean there won’t be a legislative push in many of these states,” Steve Ruddock wrote in a recent Straight to the Point newsletter.
Ruddock ranked what states he thinks have a chance at legalizing digital wagering in 2024:
Courtesy Straight to the Point
Lawmakers in Alabama, Georgia, Minnesota, Mississippi, and Missouri are all promising new bills. Those proposals will spark conversation, and with any luck, force some lawmakers to soften their positions or agree to concessions that could make legalization a reality.
But 2024 is also a presidential election year, meaning many lawmakers, even at the state level, will be more focused on politics than issues. And should a legislature in a state seriously considering sports betting undergo a sea change in November, any work that’s been done may all be for naught.
Key change could set up ’25 legalization
It’s worth noting that in Missouri, Sen. Denny Hoskins term-limits out in 2024, which could pave the way for legal betting in 2025.
Hoskins has staunchly insisted on tying wagering to video lottery terminals, and the joint issues have been a non-starter for both politicians and stakeholders in the past. Hoskins pre-filed a bill linking the two on Dec. 1, while a coalition of professional sports teams appear to be moving forward with an initiative proposal, which would put the decision of whether or not to legalize in voters’ hands.
DON'T BET ON IT: Five years after the US Supreme Court cleared the way for states to adopt online sports betting, it's still illegal in a dozen states, including Alabama and Georgia. https://t.co/p106Hawj1n
— Local 3 Sports (@Local3Sports) December 27, 2023
Other states are beginning to investigate what either legal betting or legal digital betting would look like. A government-comissioned Mississippi study explored ways to prevent casino cannibalization and an Alabama Policy Institute study focused on the negative consequences of legalizing sports betting and other kinds of gambling.
When sessions begin opening next week — Mississippi and Missouri are among the first, opening Jan. 2 and 3, respectively — wagering will continue to be discussed. Just don’t get your hopes up.
“The truth is, there are no great 2024 mobile betting candidates,” Ruddock wrote. “If any of the above states pass legislation, it will be somewhere between surprising and shocking news.”
The post Don’t Expect 2024 To Be A Banner Year In Sports Betting Legalization appeared first on SportsHandle.