Sports betting has become rampant worldwide. With different country policies around the world, how does the U.S. cope with the outbreak of illegal sports betting? According to the CEO of the American Gaming Association, sports betting will most likely be legal in 3–5 years. What do you think?
There is an estimated $80-$380 billion dollars bet illegally in the U.S. annually. Around 1% of revenue generated from betting is found to be legal. In 2014, around 1% of bets made during the Super Bowl were legal. Of all these statistics, wouldn’t it make sense to reap the benefits of a portion of this money rather than not see it at all? In 1992, PASPA (Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act) was created in the U.S. to stop sports betting. The reasons for this law were due to keeping the integrity of the game and trying to reduce criminal activity. Unfortunately, this law has had the adverse effect of what it was supposed to have. Currently, states are allowed to legalize sports betting on the state level. States such as Montana, Oregon, Delaware, and Nevada are the only states currently with legal gambling laws. Legal sports betting is found in countries all over the world including Canada and Australia. Betting in general happens in every country worldwide but many do not reap the possible benefits due to fear of forming gambling addictions and harm to integrity of athletic competition. The truth is that sports betting happens already, but the country and states do not benefit or see the revenue that could come from it. IT'S TIME TO LEGALIZE SPORTS BETTING! To read all of our content, visit our blog Commonwealth Bet. NCAA Basketball March Madness is one of the most well-known athletic tournaments in the world. It’s popularity in the U.S. has sports bettors watering at the mouth. The event is the most bet on sporting event in the country according to sheer dollars wagered. With that being said, only 4% of money bet on the tournament is seen as being legally bet in sports books in Nevada. That 4% is equivalent to $80-$90 million wagered on the event. The FBI estimates that around $2.5 billion is bet on the event annually. This means that of the possible $2.5 billion bet on the event, none of that money will be seen by the IRS.
Doesn’t it make sense for states to reap monetary benefit from a portion of this money being bet illegally? Making betting legal would allow for winnings to be taxed which allows the government to see large potential revenues. Sports betting is often looked down upon by non-participants. People see gambling as a waste of time and money. But what most people don’t think about is how similar the lottery is to sports betting.
Betting in the public's perception is frowned upon due to the potential downfalls that are associated with it. But, most people don’t realize that sports betting and the lottery are no different. The lottery is socially accepted by Americans and continues to be a large revenue stream for states nationwide. The purpose and objective are often overlooked by Americans who view the lottery as harmless. The point of the lottery is to wager money in hopes that your numbers align with the winning numbers. Think about that. Doesn’t this sound eerily familiar to gambling in general? Is the lottery really that much different than walking into a casino and placing a bet on a sports game? To read all of our content, visit our blog Commonwealth Bet. The first signs of online betting began in about 16 years ago. Thousands of online betting sites later, it has become a very popular activity all over the world to people who have Internet access. Sports betting is a specific type of betting that has been around for thousands of years in different variations. There has been political intervention trying to limit sports betting and determine what constitutes sports betting. The government’s position on the subject is constantly evolving, trying to decide if there is enough positives to overlook the negatives. In the U.S., it is primarily illegal except for the four individual states: Nevada, Delaware, Montana, and Oregon. With all this being said, countries around the world have different stances on the subject of sports betting legalization. Governments take different stances on sports betting in four different ways: actively allow, passively prohibit, actively follow, and actively prohibit. According to the UNLV Gaming Research & Review Journal, of 64 countries polled there was evidence of the majority countries treating sports betting as passively allowing. The second leading stance was actively allowing sports betting by the governments. So does this mean that sports betting in the U.S. should follow suit with so many other countries? To read all of our content, visit our blog Commonwealth Bet. Unlike the United States, Canada legalizes sports betting. The only drawback to the law for sports betting in Canada is that bets must be made on more than one game. The Canadian provinces have the power to overlook all sports betting in each provinces’ area. Provinces have set up lottery systems and online sites for citizens to participate in sports betting. The reason why Canada has allowed this is for each provinces’ sake. It allows for job opportunities as well as revenue streams for each province. Canada has reached out to the U.S. pertaining to changing the U.S. gambling laws. Canada has reaped the benefits from sports betting and believes the U.S. should too. What do you think? To read all of our content, visit our blog Commonwealth Bet. |
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