Four More States Go Live With Legal Sports Betting

Dave Schwab Sports Betting Expert

3 minute read

The 2021 college football season kicked things off on the last Saturday in August. The new NFL season made its official debut on Thursday, Sept. 9 with a full slate of games the following Sunday.

Legal sports betting in the US market jumped 126% as a result of football being back on the board.

This year, there have been multiple states working through the legislative and regulatory process to launch legal sports betting. Just about every one of those states earmarked early September as a targeted time frame to go live.

With Arizona books accepting the first legal sports bets on Sept. 9, a total of four states reached that goal. The other three states now offering legal sports betting in some form are South Dakota, Washington and Wyoming.

With these four states up and running, the big question on sports bettors’ minds is who is next?

Connecticut is on track for an October launch with recent federal approval of that state’s amended tribal gaming compacts.

Florida could join this list on Oct. 15 with legal sports betting through the Seminole Tribe’s gaming properties. However, there are still some legal hurdles that need to be cleared.

Other states on the list include Louisiana, Maryland, New York and Wisconsin. Of those four states, Wisconsin has the best chance to go live first through its tribal casino properties. That state’s timeline is contingent on operational issues within tribal casinos themselves.

The Louisiana Gaming Control Board (LGCB) is trying to expedite the process. The LGCB approved emergency sports betting regulations on Aug. 18 for operator applications and licensing.

The goal in this state is to launch before the end of 2021 to catch the tail end of the football season.

Maryland continues to work its way through the regulatory process. Regulatory steps for operator applications, licensing and set fees have been issued. While no specific date to go live has been set, the entire process continues to move forward.

Even the most optimistic proponents of legal betting in Maryland see next February’s Super Bowl as a realistic target for launch. However, sports fans can look forward to the FanDuel sports bar and sportsbook as part of a deal with Live! Casino & Hotel.

One of the biggest markets for legal online sports betting would be New York. Retail sports betting in this state is already legal on a very limited basis. The big prize is the launch of online sports betting through mobile sportsbook apps.

There will be six primary operators for mobile betting in the state. FanDuel, DraftKings and BetMGM top that list. Caesars Sportsbook, WynnBET and BetRivers are also vying for a chance to enter this lucrative market.

New York’s state gaming commission remains realistic about the timing of the regulatory process. That is why the target date for launch has been pushed back to early in 2022.

Written by Dave Schwab, our US Sports Betting Industry Expert. You can read about our author's expertise here.

Dave Schwab

Dave Schwab has been covering the sports betting industry for the past 12 years as the main focus of his specialty marketing company for online content. This endeavor followed a previous career in the field of sales and marketing in the wholesaling sector.Most of his weekly pieces focus on the rapidly expanding legal US sports betting industry. However, he still does extensive work covering betting angles that can provide a competitive edge to avid players. Dave believes that it is always a challenge to take past results and current form to try and correctly determine a future result. Sports brings out the unpredictability in what should be a fairly predictable outcome based on the stats, facts and recent trends in a particular matchup. More from Dave Schwab