- Sports betting was permitted in the United States by the repeal of PASPA in 2018.
- Since then, it has grown from a $310 million per month market to a one that is $7 billion per month.
- 84% of sports bets are placed via mobile platforms as of October 2021.
LAS VEGAS - The effect of the 2018 Supreme Court decision to repeal PASPA has created what is effectively an entirely new gambling market. Sports betting was a $310 million per month market in June of 2018, when the PASPA repeal went into effect.
In October 2021, however, that number has multiplied to over $7 billion - and almost all of that growth comes from mobile betting.
As of October, 84% of bets placed were placed via online and mobile sports betting platforms as opposed to retail ones.
Some states, such as Tennessee, have opted to make their mobile betting platforms the only state-regulated gambling options available, which has surely affected these numbers.
Online sports betting has even overtaken retail sports betting in Nevada, home to the top retail sportsbooks in the world.
It took the COVID-19 pandemic to do it, but once it happened, it didn’t go back, and mobile bets are a larger portion of the total bets than retail in NV as of October.
In other states, it’s not even close - New Jersey sees far more mobile bets placed than retail, while big markets like Illinois, Michigan and Indiana have never had mobile betting be less than 50% of bets placed as long as it’s been legal.
What Does This Mean For The Future?
It seems as though the cat is out of the bag for mobile betting - Nevada is the only major state with both legal in which the ratio is even close.
With the success of Tennessee and Wyoming's online-only betting market, more states might opt to regulate only online as opposed to retail books. This saves them the expense of building retail locations, especially for states that do not have casinos already.
While the future is always unknown, it seems like a safe bet that mobile and online betting will be a huge part of it.