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After a flurry of states legalizing sports betting every year since 2018, the pace of legalization has begun to slow down.
This November, there is only one state that could legalize sports wagering: Missouri. That is, of course, a trickle compared to prior years. In 2023, six states launched new betting markets: Florida, Kentucky, Maine, Massachusetts, Nebraska and Ohio. “The low-hanging fruit is way gone,” says Brendan Bussmann, the managing partner of B Global. “Missouri is the only one with any potential this year.”
Gambling on sports is currently legal in 38 states (plus Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C.), while mobile sports betting is legal in 30 states. The legalization of sports betting spread across the country rapidly six years ago when the Supreme Court overturned the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act. Better known as PASPA, the law effectively made sports betting illegal except in Nevada and a few other states. After the ban was struck down, states have been allowed to legalize sports betting and launch their own programs.
Despite the slowdown in new markets, 2024 will surely be another one for the record books in terms of the amount of money Americans will gamble on sporting events. National sports betting revenue from January through July hit $7.6 billion, up 30% compared to the same period in 2023, according to the American Gaming Association. In 2023, Americans wagered $121.06 billion on sports legally—a 29% jump over 2022—and first-time wagers surpassed $100 billion, the AGA says. American sportsbooks generated $11.04 billion in revenue off those wagers, a 46 percent increase from 2022.
Yet it hasn’t been all perfect parlays and winning superfectas for the gambling industry. Thanks to a deluge of sports betting ads flooding TV, social media and billboards, and high-profile betting scandals in sports—from Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter in baseball to the NBA’s Jontay Porter—a backlash has coalesced. This year, Rep. Paul Tonko (D-N.Y.) and Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) introduced a bill in the House and Senate, the Supporting Affordability and Fairness with Every Bet (known as the SAFE Bet Act), to address some of the public health ills raised by the proliferation of legalized sports wagering. If passed, the bill would require states to get approval from the Department of Justice Department for sports betting markets and ban advertising during live games.
“It is really ridiculous stuff from our perspective, in terms of trying to put the genie in the back and back in the bottle and put the federal government as the primary regulator,” says Chris Cylke, the senior vice president of government relations at the American Gaming Association. “It’s an unwelcomed development.”
Looking to 2025 and beyond, there are a handful of states that could legalize new sports betting markets, including the biggest two—California and Texas.
Here’s where the action stands with the states that have yet to legalize sports betting:
California
After two failed ballot initiatives a few years ago, the Golden State “hit pause,” says Cylke, after a “nasty 2022 election year ballot.” In 2025, California’s stake holders are expected to come back to the table to negotiate what a successful ballot measure would look like and get enough signatures. This process is expected to last a year. “California will be likely on the ballot in 2026,” says Bussmann.
Georgia
Lawmakers have tried to pass sports betting bills for the past three years and were unsuccessful in getting a ballot measure in front of voters this year. Georgia is a “prime target” for 2025 “with good prospects of passing,” says Cylke.
Minnesota
A bill that would give control to a legal sports betting market in Minnesota to Native American tribes failed to pass the state senate in 2022 and the effort failed again in 2023. “Minnesota will definitely be back on the on the radar in 2025,” says Bussmann.
Texas
The Lone Star state’s legislature was not in session in 2024, but Texas lawmakers will be back to work in 2025. In late 2023, Miriam Adelson—the billionaire widow of Sheldon Adelson, the former CEO and chairman of casino company Las Vegas Sands—bought a majority stake in the Dallas Mavericks NBA team from billionaire Mark Cuban. Las Vegas Sands and its lobbyists have been working on elected officials to support the idea of legalizing casinos in the state. “Texas is going to be a place where there’s a lot of attention in 2025,” says Cylke.