Is more Legalized Sports Betting in the U.S. Good for Online Operators?

That is the million dollar question that we have been getting on a daily basis in our inbox and on our phone lines.

The short answer is yes. The more "mainstream" any typing of gaming becomes in the United States only helps the online industry. The business of  online gambling is a legitimate industry with dozens of very legitimate operators facing the U.S. and several  huge publicly traded companies in the UK and around the globe that service their own markets. By moving sports betting out of the ‘corner bookie’ an element of seediness is removed. This legitimizes sports betting as a whole and can only help the online operators.

Online sportsbooks are simply another form of entertainment for some people. NASCAR spokesman Ramsey Poston recently told the Philadelphia Inquirer that while the reintroduction of sports betting in Delaware "doesn't have an impact on us as a sport, it may add to the experience and fun for our fans." This is exactly what online operators feel. We have been told many times that operators online are looking for some of a persons disposable income, adding enhancement to a game that fans are attending or watching on TV. Similar to the way land-based casinos are looking for a piece of grandma’s social security check while she is eating at the free buffet.

There is also a feeling that this is a ‘chink’ in the armor of the NFL, who strictly opposes any type of expanded gambling on their sport. To have sports betting east of the Mississippi is huge for gamblers and certainly a sore point for the major sports leagues. But since three states are grand-fathered in for sports betting, what would the NFL expect? In these tough economic times, states are looking for any way to boost revenue, and Delaware may have found a source in sports gambling.

I would also surmise that if Delaware can make a go of it and actually show revenue for the state, Oregon may bring back its football parlay cards and even Montana, the fourth state who is legally allowed to offer betting on sporting events, may finally have a go at it. Who is to say that the Federal government won’t see these state coffers filling up and look for a piece of the pie – the Internet pie.

Barney Frank has introduced another bill to legalize Internet gambling, yet his bill has a clause in it that eliminates sports betting. However, if sports betting hits a home run in Delaware, and the two other states add sports betting, why would this language continued to exist in any federal bills?

Though Delaware may not offer ‘Las Vegas style’ sports betting, it certainly is a step in the right direction for sports bettors across the U.S. Bettors are clamoring for legitimate places to bet their favorite sports without the stigma of doing something that is ‘illegal’. The emergence of huge publicly-traded companies in the middle of this decade was one of the major reasons that the growth of Internet gambling exploded so rapidly.

So, today, sports betting is legal in Nevada and Delaware. Tomorrow, the world.