There’s no doubt that sports betting is now more prevalent than ever before, and with it comes lucrative partnerships with bookmakers and new advertising revenue streams. Sportsbooks are popping up all over the country, and even major leagues have done a complete 180 on their stance on legalized gambling. We recently spoke with ESPN’s David Purdum about how the industry has changed since the Supreme Court ruling on sports betting.
The Supreme Court’s decision to allow states to regulate their own sports betting laws has opened up a number of possibilities. However, there is a great deal of variance from state to state as they establish their own rules and regulations. One of the biggest areas of difference is how a state defines its legal age for sports bettors. The majority of legal states have set the age at 21 for anyone who wants to place a bet. However, some have set the bar lower at 18 for people who want to bet on college sports.
Another area of variation is how a state determines which games are eligible for betting. While most legal states allow bets on college sports, there are a few that prohibit betting on any in-state programs or events. In addition, some states require bettors to verify their age and location as part of the sign-up process. Depending on the state, this verification process can take anywhere from a few seconds to several minutes.
Finally, there’s the question of whether a player or team is allowed to bet on their own game. The answer to this varies from sport to sport and from league to league. In general, NFL players are not permitted to bet on their own games, and there are also restrictions on placing bets while inside a team’s facilities or while they are traveling with their teams.
PURDUM: The NBA, for example, has made a huge change in their attitude about this in the last few years. They were the league that was fighting for this to stay illegal in Nevada, and they went through the whole rigmarole of going to the Supreme Court. Now, they’re embracing it and working with these sportsbooks to promote their product. They’re promoting these new betting platforms on their TV shows. They’re doing a lot of things that they never would have dreamed about doing before the Supreme Court ruling.
It’s important to remember that the legal age for sports betting is determined at the state level, and not by the federal government. The vast majority of states have set the legal age at 21, and some, including New York and Pennsylvania, are currently allowing bettors as young as 18. These states require bettors to provide proof that they’re over the legal age before they can deposit money at a sportsbook or play in a casino. In these states, the age requirement is usually verified by a government-issued ID card. Alternatively, some online sportsbooks use geolocation technology to ensure that bettors are of legal age.