In May 2018, the Supreme Court opened the floodgates. The water continues to rush through.
Three more states adopted legalized sports wagering this week, with Maryland, Louisiana, and South Dakota joining a trend that now covers half of the country.
Three other states, Hawaii, Massachusetts and Ohio, have active legislation that would allow sports wagering.
As sports wagering spreads, more states will adopt sports wagering. The reasoning is simple; citizens in border communities will cross the line to an adjoining state that allows it, spending money that could be spent in the state where they live.
Some of us (like me) are old enough to remember the proliferation of scratch-off lottery tickets. Pearls were clutched and parades of horribles were uttered. And then as states started offering scratch-off lottery tickets, most of the rest of them fell in line.
While it’s unlikely that all 50 states will adopt sports wagering (not all 50 have lottery systems), plenty more will enhance the pool in which they wet their budgetary beaks by allowing further expansion of gambling activities that can be regulated and, more importantly, taxed.
