In the realm of sports betting in America, recent data reveals a substantial climb in state tax revenues in 2023. In fact, last year alone, the nearly 2.5 billion tax dollars reaped by the 38 states and the District of Columbia signified a dramatic 34.7% leap from the previous year. And with five more states currently laying the legislative groundwork for their own sports gambling endeavors, this spectacular surge promises to continue on.
Online lending marketplace and personal finance site, LendingTree, painted this picture through meticulous analysis. The towering $2.479 billion in state taxes from sports betting last year dwarfed 2022’s still considerable $1.84 billion, highlighting the undeniable reality of sports betting’s financial prowess in the U.S. today.
According to a statement released by LendingTree, you can scarce glance at a sports event, be it in person or via the screen, without being barraged with advertisements for sports betting sites. DraftKings and FanDuel are seemingly ubiquitous, slipping into every commercial break, every banner and every conversation about the game. This very ubiquity, woven into the fabric of everyday sports discourse, means that sports betting is big business, raking in unprecedented profits for every state where it holds legal status.
Among the 38 states, and Washington, D.C., where sports gambling is firmly established, no entity can hold a candle to New York in terms of sheer betting hustle and resulting tax boon. Kicking off online sports betting operations a mere year before in January 2022, New York swiftly climbed to the zenith of the U.S. sports betting industry. The state reaped close to a staggering $876 million in 2023, charging one of the highest tax rates in the country on sportsbooks – an incredible 51%.
In distant second position is Pennsylvania, wielding a 36% tax rate over its sportsbook operators and raking in $176.6 million in taxes. Indiana ($175.4 million), Illinois ($161.4 million), and Ohio ($136.3 million) complete the list of front-runners, while New Jersey – the very state that spearheaded the Supreme Court challenge, winning the right for states to determine the legality of sports gambling within their jurisdictions – came in sixth garnering $111 million.
Federal taxation tides aren’t left out either. The federal government collects a per wager excise tax at a 0.25% rate, on top of the almost $2.5 billion collected by the states.
Beyond the dollars and cents, sports betting in America has found considerable public support. A survey conducted by LendingTree revealed 44% acceptance nationwide, though this didn’t align with complete public trust. A significant 47% of respondents expressed concern that the expanding legal presence of sports betting might inadvertently fuel a correspondingly higher rate of cheating and match-fixing scandals.
As sports betting’s grip tightens on the American landscape, this blend of fascination, adoption, concern, and growing profits will continue coloring the contours of this vast, lucrative sector.