STRIKE THREE: No news is…no news when it comes to the future – provided there is one – of legalized sports wagering in Colorado. Many thought that the first state (along with Washington) in America to legalize Marijuana would be among the early entries into making another of life’s guilty pleasures into a legal one. Hasn’t happened during the first month under a new governor and state legislature – and there haven’t been any loud rumblings that it’s on the docket for the near future. I’m kind of surprised. There’s a lot of money out there to go into state coffers.
Colorado made limited stakes gambling legal in 1991, but sports betting still remains something you need to go out of state to partake in legally. There are now nine states that have legalized sports betting, most of the newbies are on the east coast. Out west, Nevada of course remains the unofficial “capital” of sports wagering, but New Jersey is making a strong push. In the first six months of legalized sports betting in the Garden State, they’ve raked in a reported $928 million, which is pretty fast and on pace with Vegas. Experts say Nevada pulled in just short of $5 bil in legal sports betting last year. They add that illegal wagering, you know, that “back alley bookie” stuff, brought in about $70 billion…all with a “b.”
States have a lot to gain, but do they all want it? Each state now gets to make its own decision, via state legislatures. That process sometimes takes awhile (although New Jersey had the mechanism already in place and hit the ground running shortly after the favorable Supreme Court decision last May.)
Unlike most stuff that has to go through the legislative process these days, this doesn’t appear to be a partisan issue, at least not at the moment. The conservative-learning SCOTUS made the decision last spring to strike down an old law and permit states to make their own decisions about sports betting. This after Republican then-Governor Chris Christie led the charge to make gambling legal in New Jersey. Democrats have not objected. Senators Chuck Schumer of New York, a Democrat, and Orrin Hatch of Utah – a now retired Republican – co-sponsored a bill last year to make sports gambling legal nationally. It didn’t make it very far through the process, however.
In Las Vegas, Casino billionaire (and GOP super-donor) Sheldon Adelson is trying to hold back the legalized sports betting process…at least limit the on-line component. That makes sense. It’s money out of his sizeable pocket, after all. In New Jersey, a report says that almost three-fourths of the over $21 mil the state has brought in so far from legal bets has come from on-line platforms. And guess which outfits are leading the parade of on-line betting platforms? None other than Fantasy Sports giants Fan Duel and Draft Kings.
How about that. I remember getting plenty of grief from Fantasy nerds when I called Fantasy sports “Gambling’s geeky cousin.” Guess the ties that bind between Fantasy sports and gambling are just what I said they were. Hmm.
We’ll know more at some point…perhaps when our state legislature picks up the debate and we start seeing ads from Fan Duel and Draft Kings, pushing our state reps to let us gamble on sports while we’re down in Mom’s basement with our Fantasy rosters and our favorite bong.
Wanna fire back or have a comment in support? Hit me up on Twitter, @MarkKnudson41.
