How Sports Betting is Changing the Game for Destinations and Venues

With 20 states legalizing sports wagering, venues and sports organizations are getting creative.

Beyond being a mere spectator to sports affairs, the U.S. Supreme Court has come to wield immense influence within the unattended arena. An example is the antitrust case of Curt Flood, which gave continued upward effectiveness to Major League Baseball's antitrust exemption, or the antitrust doctrine involving the NCAA that opened the door to conferences marketing their own TV rights, allowing for vast media rights deals, all the way to Title IX issues at every level of athletics, ending in recent debates regarding college athletes and rights to name, image, and likeness. The Supreme Court has altered how athletes and fans live, watch, and play sports.

Another watershed moment for sports betting came in May, when the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act restricting regulated sports betting to primarily Nevada was struck down in a 6-3 decision. This decision had opened, once again, the floodgates to sports gambling for the entire country. Consequently, sports betting operations would now be allowed in 20 states, with five others preparing to begin.

States that have entered this space are reaping substantial financial fortunes. The recent JPMorgan study estimated revenues from sports betting at $1.5 billion, rising to as high as $9 billion over the next five years – a figure that would fly even higher were ALL of California, Texas, and Florida, with their combined 90 million people, to allow gambling in IPL betting sites.

As each state has different rules and regulations, what fans can actually do when it comes to sports bettingos in Colorado does not always apply to New Jersey or Michigan. However, the most intelligent bet is that no matter how the landscape shifts daily, the wave of sports betting will persist.

"For as long as there’s been sports to bet on, they’ve been betting on sports in America," said Bill Miller, president of the American Gaming Association, whose organization projected ahead of the Super Bowl that more than 23 million adults would legally gamble on the game.

How Betting Boosts Tourism

Much tourism in Las Vegas has majorly been tied with sports gambling. Be it the Super Bowl or March Madness, every big event is a license to print huge profits for Strip hotels that have hundreds of TVs showing games round the clock. A mega-fan could fly to Vegas, never leave the hotel for days, and never be bored from the gambling opportunities offered, with food and drinks sent straight to the chair.

Nevada was the only state in the country with legal sports gambling, giving it—and Las Vegas—an edge for tourist flows from visitors wanting to wager on competitions. Now, with the ability to draw the same visitor base by utilizing sports gambling, states have started to use these tax revenues to further their own tourism promotion; Colorado, Pennsylvania, and South Dakota are notable examples in which this tax revenue is specifically used for that purpose.

Although the most direct revenue from the tourism market will not come from that source, more so than any other region, it is the state of New Jersey-the very state whose lawsuit pointed the way to the Supreme Court ruling that currently has available sports gambling.

The New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement has reported a gross revenue of $128.5 million for sports wagering, compared with $70.5 million at this point year-to-date. The hotel industry in New Jersey is becoming increasingly involved in this; Bally's has partnered with FanDuel for a sportsbook in its Atlantic City property, located right in front of the northern boardwalk casino entrance, with five betting windows and 20 self-serve betting kiosks. The sportsbook has a food and beverage menu featuring pub-style fare, a cocktail selection, and a self-pour beverage dispenser beer wall that hails local and regional craft-beer brands.

“The changes in the market and guests' rapidly shifting preferences show the fact that people who visit a casino enjoy the advantages of being able to place sports bets at a retail location,” Adi Dhandhania, [senior vice president and] head of strategy and interactive at Bally's Corporation, said. “With the rising popularity of insurgent sports betting following the pandemic, land-based destinations should takeon sports betting, as Bally's does, and a chance to productively drive tourism.”

The approach is easy: Just take what Las Vegas has been doing for decades as a sports gambling destination and simply add your own twist. Sports betting revenue has soared on the East Coast, catering to LV junkies who would spend a few days relaxing and casually betting on sports but would rather do it closer to home when they go on vacation.

“Sports betting has been a dynamic game changer, changing the narrative for Atlantic City,” said Dan Gallagher, director of sports sales at Meet AC and the Atlantic City Sports Commission. “This has not only proven to revitalize the Atlantic City market but also opened up avenues for Atlantic City toward an all-encompassing destination.”

Leagues, Teams Capitalize on Opportunities

Sports betting has long been a controversial subject the age of the sports leagues. While betting has without a doubt ramped up the popularity of sports, it has never been mentioned, accredited, or discussed during an NFL broadcast. For any number of reasons, college sports persist in keeping from the betting discussion. Meanwhile, professional sports are slowly entering more and more into the sports betting area.

After spending decades avoiding Las Vegas like a pandemic, the NHL and NFL now have franchises and stadiums right on the Strip. Recently, the NHL partnered with casino Bally's as the league's official sports betting partner; MGM Resorts has gaming partnerships with this NHL and also other sporting corporations like the National Basketball Association and Major League Baseball. Eleven NFL teams have official sponsors for betting; the league has allowed teams to have betting lounges that showcase mobile betting options at their stadiums, but retail sportsbooks are still banned.