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Most States Excluded from Lucrative Sports Betting Market27 January 2003NEW YORK – As reported by Forbes Magazine: " Despite losing by 27 points, going into the Super Bowl the Oakland Raiders were a 3.5-point favorite over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. This line appeared in almost every daily paper in the United States and on thousands of Internet sites. But only in Nevada could a U.S. citizen legally bet the line at a sports book. "On Sunday alone, players in Nevada casinos bet more than $80 million, about the same amount that was bet over three weekends of the National Collegiate Athletic Association Men's basketball tournament last March. "…But why should only Nevada and its casinos make out? Because, due to a decade-old federal law, sports betting is prohibited in all but a handful of states. "That law essentially keeps revenue-starved states on the outside of an estimated $80 billion to $380 billion illegally bet on sporting events in the United States each year. Those estimates dwarf the $2.5 billion wagered on sports in Nevada, according to the 1999 National Gambling Impact Study. Including an $18 billion multistate pari-mutuel betting circuit, regulated betting doesn't even equal a quarter of the cash handled by backroom bookies. "…Recent data show that U.S. states estimate an additional tax take in 2003 of $8.3 billion, 2% of 2002 revenue, according to the November 2002 Fiscal Survey of States. It is the greatest projected one-year increase in over a decade. "…Due to a 1992 law, cash-starved states are locked out of a potentially lucractive sports gambling market. "…The math for further legalization of sports wagering is compelling. The administrative infrastructure to handle sports gambling is already in place--at least in the 42 states and territories that run lotteries. "…One step further, regulated sports books could draw significant action off the black market. At the midpoint of estimates, if just half of the illegal wagering in the U.S. moved to legal books, that would create a $12 billion industry after payouts…" |