Finally, a 1992 federal law that prohibits betting on sporting events in North America has been overruled by the US Supreme Court. It’s no clean victory though, from now on each state can regulate sports betting on their own.
The probability that at least a few states will allow sports betting is big. There is a lot of tax revenue to be earned from gambling, so the traditionally progressive states will welcome sports betting no doubt. There is another but; there can be a distinction between esports- and sportsbetting. So different rules could apply to betting on the League of Legends World Series than on the Super Bowl, for instance.
“Today’s decision opens the door for regulated esports betting in the U.S., but the question remains of how each state will treat esports,” Eilers & Krejcik game industry analyst Chris Grove explained in a note to GamesBeat. “In Nevada, for example, esports aren’t handled like traditional sports for the purposes of sports betting. Each state will have to make their own decision about whether to lump esports in with traditional sports or to treat it separately.”
Optimistic
We are optimistic, even though not all bridges have crossed yet. This is a first step to bring U.S. players to the esports betting scene; and we welcome you! We expect a lot of competition to win the heart of the new U.S. players and we’ll meet this competition heads high and with good bonuses and conditions. Betting platforms originating from the United States, like Unikrn will find out if their alternative crypto/skin deposit model will be able to compete with cold hard cash. Being American, they do have the chance to reach out to the newly found playerbase without stretching. On the other hand, established esports betting sites (MasterMazuma😉 do have an advantage in experience with esports betting. Whatever the US players prefer, only time will tell!
Shout out to the traditional sports
Without the lobbying of the NCAA, NBA, NFL and all other major leagues, we wouldn’t have had this change. In a way, esports is hitchhiking on their success. It will only be a matter of time before esports will be big enough to stand on their own feet and return the favor. But a big shout out to all hard work done by these pioniers!