For decades, American legal scholars and sports fans debated what the impact of regulated sports betting would have on the American landscape. On the one hand, you had Pollyanna-types in professional sports screaming that legal sports betting would be the end of sports as we knew it. On the other hand, you had supporters who said it would just legalize an activity that was already happening. What everyone knew, but didn’t seem to say much, was that legal American sports betting was going to be a windfall for state governments.
Now, with a month of American football under our belts, the newly minted sports betting industry is proving to be an unmitigated success.
According to a recent report on CalvinAyre.com, states across the country are cashing in record revenues from their newly legalized vice. In Indiana, for example, the September handle was $207.5 million. That’s up 22 percent over the August handle. Betting revenue was up an astonishing 46 percent fro the previous month.
In Iowa, where sports betting has been legal for more than a year, the wagering dollars are flowing like a river. Across those hallowed cornfields, sports betting fanatics have wagered more than 22 percent more during September 2020 than they did in 2019. That speaks to the remarkable success of mobile betting, as casinos and sportsbooks are still not operating at full capacity.
That success story is playing out in every regulated sports betting market in America and, as more states join the regulated club, we’ll likely see even more success stories play out.