Is the US bet on sports gambling paying off?
Business Daily
BBC
4.4 • 816 Ratings
🗓️ 13 May 2024
⏱️ 17 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Sports betting is a relatively new industry in the US.
Until 2018 you could only legally bet on sports in the state on Nevada, the home to Las Vegas.
New Jersey was the first state to legalise sports betting six years ago and since then, a total of 38 states across America have done the same.
Hannah Mullane looks at how the industry has grown so rapidly and discusses the consequences of the industry which has been allowed to evolve with very little regulation.
(Produced and presented by Hannah Mullane)
(Image: Detroit Lions fans pose prior to a game against the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC Championship Game at Levi's Stadium on January 28, 2024 in Santa Clara, California. Image credit: Getty)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello and welcome to Business Daily with me, Hannah Malane. |
| 0:06.4 | Today, we're heading to the US and stepping onto the sports field to explore the relatively |
| 0:10.8 | new industry of sports betting. |
| 0:13.6 | It was just six years ago that the news came out of New Jersey that sports betting had |
| 0:18.3 | been legalised, the first state to do so. |
| 0:21.2 | The Supreme Court has ruled that states have the power to legalize sports betting. |
| 0:25.7 | This document changes the world for sports betters, meaning football, baseball, any game |
| 0:30.5 | you like can be bet on by anyone over 21. For Americans, betting on sports had only legally |
| 0:36.2 | taken place in the state of Nevada, the home of Las Vegas. |
| 0:39.9 | It wasn't until 2018 that other states began to overturn legislation that had banned sports betting. |
| 0:45.9 | And that's changed the game for a gambling industry that for years has been kept away from the world's largest economy. |
| 0:52.6 | It's become somewhat of a gold rush as companies come in and see an exploding marketplace. |
| 0:59.2 | And so that's created an opportunity for innovation. |
| 1:01.7 | And we've seen a lot of companies come in and try to capitalize on that. |
| 1:04.9 | Now, 38 states and two districts in the U.S. have legalized some form of sports betting. |
| 1:10.2 | And the industry is worth |
| 1:11.5 | more than $10 billion. But with the expansion of gambling opportunities comes an expansion of |
| 1:17.3 | social issues surrounding problem gambling. I'd be on the treadmill, sports betting for four hours, |
| 1:23.9 | and I'd go home, watch sports bet, and then on the weekends I'd go to the casino, and I was living to gamble. |
| 1:29.0 | That's Chuck. We'll meet him and his friend Robert in this episode, both of whom have had problems with compulsive gambling, |
| 1:35.5 | and we'll speak to businesses in the industry, as America grapples with how to manage a boom in sports betting with limited regulation. |
| 1:43.2 | That's all coming up on today's episode of Business Daily. |
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