Legal sportsbooks in U.S. take $13 billion in action in 2019; Pa. 3rd with $1.5B
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Last year marked the first full year of legal sports betting in the United States, and Pennsylvania was one of just three states to take in more than $1 billion in wagers in 2019, according to the American Gaming Association.
Pennsylvania was one of the first states to launch legal sports betting after the U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way in 2018.
Even before the Supreme Court struck down the 1992 Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act, Pennsylvania lawmakers prepared the state to regulate and tax it. Included in a 2017 Pennsylvania gambling expansion law was an authorization for sports wagering as soon as a federal court ruling allowed the state to regulate such bets.
Now that the first full year of betting is in the books, the numbers are in:
$13 billion
Legal sports bets wagered by Americans in 2019, the first full year of legal sports betting. Sports betting figures from New York and tribal casinos in three states are not publicly reported.
$6.6 billion
Legal sports bets wagered by Americans in 2018.
$1.5 billion
Sports bets placed in Pennsylvania in 2019 , trailing only New Jersey ($4.6 billion) and Nevada (a record $5.3 billion.)
59%
Percentage of legal sports bets wagered outside of Nevada in 2019.
$118 million
State and local tax revenue generated by legal sports betting in 2019.
14
Number of states/jurisdictions that have legal sports betting today. Six more states and Washington D.C. are set to open legal sportsbooks in 2020. Sports betting legislation is pending in 17 states.
NEW: 2019 sports betting numbers are in. Bettors nationwide legally wagered $13 billion in the first full calendar year since the Supreme Court invalidated PASPA, close to double the nearly $6.6 billion handle in 2018. pic.twitter.com/5X8fxm079P
— American Gaming Association (@AmericanGaming) February 5, 2020
Source: American Gaming Association