A few years ago betting on sports wasn’t something most people could legally do in the U.S. unless they were in Las Vegas, but now it’s pretty much everywhere. So how did we go from almost no sports betting to millions of people placing bets on their phones?
According to the American Gaming Association, back in 1992, the U.S. made a law called PASPA (Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act). This law said that only Nevada and a few other places could have legal sports betting. That meant most people in the country couldn’t bet on games, not legally anyway. But people still did it through illegal websites.
According to ESPN, In 2018 the Supreme Court decided that PASPA was unfair. They said each state should be allowed to make it’s own rules about sports betting. Suddenly, states all over the country started making it legal. New Jersey was the first to jump in, and lots of others followed.
According to AP News, as more states made it legal, betting apps became super popular. Now you can bet on a football game, basketball game, or even tennis, all on your phone. In 2023, Americans bet over $120 billion on sports, and almost all of it, like 94%, was done online or on apps like FanDuel and DraftKings.
The companies that run these apps are making tons of money. In just one year, they made over $10 billion in revenue. That means that sports gambling isn’t big, it’s huge.
According to The New York Post, even though betting can be fun, it can also be addictive. Experts say that millions of Americans now have a gambling problem. It’s especially bad for young adults, mostly men. Some states are trying to add rules, like blocking credit cards or making people set betting limits. But companies don’t always like those rules because they make less money.
Sports betting is probably here to stay. More states are making it legal, and more people are betting every year. But we have to make sure it’s safe, especially for kids and teens. That means teaching people about the risks and creating better rules to protect people.
