User:Sjbernstein/Sports betting trends

Introduction
Sports betting has become hugely popular in the US in recent years, with many different websites, bookies and casinos taking advantage of recent legislation. In 2018, the Supreme Court struck down PASPA (the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992), which allowed the sports betting market to be regulated at the state level. This mainly came as a result of the Murphy v. National Collegiate Athletic Association ruling. Many expected the ruling to ultimately create exponential growth for the industry, but issues such as taxation, mobile gambling and tribal gaming laws has limited growth to an extent. Despite this, sports betting has still grown at a very rapid pace and is set to become a trillion dollar industry. With many states allowing both in-person and online betting, the accessibility and ease of gambling has increased dramatically. Below is a list of the current legality of sports betting in the 50 states : With most states having established sports betting practices or recently passed legislation, it appears that the United States are set to be completely legal to bet in within a number of years. The idea of a federal legalization of sports betting has been explored for years, as it would help increase tax revenues and eliminate the illegal gambling market. The size of the illegal sports betting market is unkown, but some estimates are up to $150 billion. Some of these losses would be offset by taxes, as estimates show that sports betting taxes could bring in $6 billion in the next three years.

Background
Upon the shutdown of the PASPA, states were allowed to decide on their own regulations of the sports betting market. This opened up room for seemingly unlimited growth, resulting in projections of the sports betting market to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 8.62% during the period 2018-2022. Online betting websites, like Intertops, Bovada, and MyBookie, have seen an explosion in new users the past two years. Casinos have taken advantage of new technology to increase the efficiency and ease of in-person betting. The perfect example of this is the DraftKings Sportsbook at Resorts Casino Hotel in Atlantic City. In the fall of 2018, the NOVOMATIC FV- 830 full-service sports betting kiosk was launched at the hotel as the premier betting kiosk in North America, and has enhanced the customer experience greatly. Today, they have a total of 18 kiosks at Resorts Casino Hotel. Other casinos and bookies have introduced products and venues to compete in a fast-growing industry.

Sports Betting Growth
According to Technavio’s 2015 report, “the global sports betting market was valued at 205 billion USD in 2015, and growing at a CAGR of 4.26%”. In comparison, Wood’s 2018 report projected a 8.62% CAGR, showing a growth trend in the world of sports betting.

In February of 2020, Technavio reported that the global market will grow by $231.63 billion in the next four years. This demonstrates major growth from the $205 billion valuation just five years ago.

The legalization of sports betting in many states has cut down illegal gambling in the US. While analysts do not believe that the illegal sports betting market will go away any time soon, the American Gaming Association reported that "average spending with illegal bookies in 2019 fell 25 percent in states that offered legal sports betting". Still, however, 52% of sports bettors wagered illegally last year at least once, so predictions for the illegal market are varying.

US Gambling and Casino Correlation
Mintel Academic produced some growth charts in 2018 based off of forecast predictions for the entire US gambling industry. This includes both casino games and sports betting. The constant positive slope of the trendline in their graphs demonstrates the constant growth of the sports betting industry. With it having been illegal in many states for the years leading up to 2018 (when PASPA was overturned), there is the opportunity for a much more drastic increase. There is also always the chance of an industry failing. Because these charts are not specific to just sports betting, it is important to show the nearly direct correlation between those who participate at casinos and those who bet on sports.

Looking Ahead
The global sports betting market is projected to continue to boom and grow rapidly. The online world of sports betting is just beginning to take off, with many websites not even having yet introduced live betting. As more and more online betting companies develop and gain popularity, there will be more competition and better benefits for signing up. This will encourage people to sign up, and as they develop their technology, the ease-of-access will only improve. More and more countries get involved with their sports as well. Many other countries have established, mature sports betting industries already. When the US is caught up with them, international partnerships could be formed to expand the industry even more.

Arguments Against
Many people are in opposition to the legalization of sports betting, and only desire to operate through their bookie. This is due to the fact that state-run betting imposes taxes on winnings, meaning that if someone wins a large sum of money on a bet, the government takes away a portion of their winnings. This can be extremely frustrating, as there is no effect on losing bets. The ethical dilemma to some that comes with legalization is that it can enable gambling addictions, as well as convince people to spend more money than they intend to on the hope of larger winnings.