7 Reasons Why Sports Betting Should Be Legalized

Sports betting is really popular in our modern world. However, it is prohibited in the USA, except for such states, as Delaware, Nevada, Montana, and Oregon.

There is an opinion that sports betting might be legalized in the nearest future, as it was written in the our previous articles.

Online gambling keeps gaining its popularity, and sports betting should not be singled out, while it is people’s favorite activity and here are 7 reasons why it should be legal.

Everyone is in Sports Betting

Sure, if everyone does something, it doesn’t mean it should be legalized. However, sports betting doesn’t hurt anyone unlike pirate movies’ copying, or something else. If the governments allow casinos, then why it’s impossible to allow sports betting as well? If sports betting is so popular and is going to only gain its popularity, then governments should think about making it legal for everyone to enjoy one of their favorite activities.

Sports Betting is One of the Main Reasons People Watch Sports

Watching sports is one of the main ways of entertainment for modern people all over the globe. Betting on different sports makes more people watch sports. It’s a perfect activity for most of them when people can combine watching their favorite sports with gaining some good profit from it, isn’t it? Not only viewers and bettors benefit from it but also the economy, as well as TV providers.

Sports Bettor Can Rely on Their Skills

Sports bettors have all chances of winning thanks to their knowledge and certain skills, unlike those who play online casinos and can rely only on their good luck. In sports betting, similar to DFS, players have better odds of winning thanks to their experience, knowledge, and skills. But why DFS is allowed as a game of skill and sports betting is not?

When you make a bet on a team or a player, you do this not on your emotions, as in roulette, or a slot machine. You learn statistics, watch the games, and create your own strategy based on real facts. Sure, luck can be also involved here while lots of factors influence a game, but the same factors concern DFS as well. So there is no reason why sports betting may not be legalized as a game of skills.

Lots of States Have Legalized Sports Betting Already

It is at least not very logic that sports betting is legal already in such states, as Oregon, Nevada, Delaware, and Montana, and is still prohibited in other states. Almost all over the country the lotteries and gambling are legally provided, so what’s wrong with sports betting? If some states have already legalized sports betting, so why others may not?

Local Communities and the Whole Country Would Benefit from Taxes

It’s not a secret that illegal sports bets do not contribute to the treasury, while they avoid taxes. So, local communities do not benefit from them at all. And they really could. Legal betting would become a great deal for local communities, taxes from it could be used for health programs, youth development, social aid, etc., as in the case of the USA casinos. Thus, sports betting would be only beneficial for the country economy and would bring really big money to the country.
As Darren Heitner, Forbes contributor, stated, the sports betting legalization in the USA would bring over $6 billion tax revenue annually by the year 2023. Isn’t that a good reason for legalizing it?

Leagues are in Favor of Legalizing Sports Betting

The times when the sports leagues were against sports betting are over now. Both NBA former commissioner David Stern and current one Adam Silver have expressed their pro-betting views. They have noticed only that sports betting should be properly regulated, while states will have a chance to earn more money. Thus, leagues will be compensated for intellectual property; this would solve the problem of illegal bets and contribute to the federal treasury. It was declared in Stern’s public statement in the year 2015. The same thing he wrote in his column for the NYT.
Sports leagues realize that legalizing sports betting is in their interest. However, they cannot find out yet how to capitalize it best financially for them.

Betting Increases Ratings

Regardless ban of PASPA, American citizens keep betting on sports and seem not to be stopping at all. According to the AGA report, people who bet on NFL games watch much more games per season than those who do not bet at all. Thus, bettors increased ratings almost two times this season, what’s really significant for NFL ratings.
So, there are lots of good reasons for legalizing sports betting, while it already exists globally and everyone has a chance to benefit from it. It could bring a large income for states preventing fixing games.