Gambling in the United States is not what it used to be, given that it used to mostly be illegal. Gambling and betting are now okay to do in most states, with the Supreme Court having shut down 1992’s Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA) three years ago. The move paved the way for a number of legal sports betting applications to take root as it handed the decision-making power to individual states.
Since then, many states have opened their doors to various gambling avenues and online betting is pretty much a staple. There are several sportsbooks that you can use to place your bets on the major sports in almost any state.
Some states offer retail and online options but others need persons to come in to place bets and there are a number of regulations, including ways of detecting whether or not punters are within state lines when placing bets using mobile devices.
One of the first places to allow betting in the US was Delaware. The state was the first after Nevade to accept a legal single-game sports bets and was ahead of New Jersey by a few weeks as it wasted very little time following the removal of PASPA by the Supreme Court in 2018. However, the lottery-run betting market does not yet allow for online gambling and there are only three retail sportsbooks in the whole state.
Given its small size and population, as well as the quickly-growing online betting industry, Delaware has fallen behind as speedily as it started.
This short guide seeks to get you up to date with the best sports betting apps, as well as what you can and cannot bet on in the US. Unfortunately, online betting is not available in all states and you can’t use any betting app in any state as platforms that work in one state isn’t necessarily functional in another.
DraftKings and Fanduel are among the more popular betting apps in the US. Both of these avenues are very reliable and offer enhanced options.
“The safest options for sports betting online come via the legal and regulated operators. DraftKings and FanDuel are two examples of operators that have received approval to open for business in a number of states,” Legalsportreport says in its review. “Legal and regulated sites have to go through a lengthy application process, follow specific rules and regulations, and verify that customer funds are safe. That’s not the case with the unregulated options that may be available.”
As mentioned above, all of the states are responsible for setting up their own rules and regulations for betting on sports. As such, the legislation for each state varies, although you will find that the states that do allow gambling and betting have similar takes.
Team-based professional sports such as basketball and hockey and big individual competitions such as the US Open and PGA Tour are good to go in terms of betting, though operators will offer some niche sports. As it pertains to the latter, the options will vary from state to state and will be contingent on regulations set by a particular state.
College sports is a tricky one but you should be able to find a sportsbook handing out odds on games but high school sports aren’t to be the subject of any bet in any state as all of them disallow it.
“One of the biggest points of difference has been on college sports,” the aforementioned publication adds. “While you can bet on college football and basketball in several states, some have expressly prohibited wagering on in-state teams or on amateur events that take place in the state.
“In general, the legal sportsbooks stay away from non-sports events. That means no wagering on the weather, reality television outcomes, or on elections. However, wagering on the Oscars has been allowed here and there.”
You could bet on some pretty ridiculous things in other countries and we’re pretty sure you’d find at least one thing to shock you on a list featuring the strangest things one can place bets on. Elections happen to be one of those things and, while you could bet on the outcome of the US presidential elections outside the country, you can’t do so while in it.
There’s always a lot of talk where it pertains to the odds on major political outcomes but that’s illegal and one could face jail time if caught betting on such.
You also can’t bet on things like the weather or reality TV in the states but, those too are options elsewhere.
If you’re interested in the different bills and laws where states are concerned when it comes to betting, you could find a tracker right here.
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