As the sports betting world awaits legalization in Texas, California and Florida, sportsbooks are utilizing their time to learn as much as possible.
Sports betting is currently legal in 33 states and DC. California voters resoundingly rejected Prop 26 and Prop 27 last November, which would’ve legalized mobile betting and in-person betting on tribal lands and at race tracks.
In Florida, there’s a glimmer of hope that betting in the state could resume as early as this year. A DC Court of Appeals panel will issue a ruling at some point in 2023 on a 2021 lawsuit by state casino operators challenging the Florida-Seminole Gaming Compact. But if that doesn’t work out, voters will have to decide, making the earliest betting would go live would be in 2025.
In Texas, Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick tweeted over the weekend that a bill that would have put sports betting on the 2023 ballot will not be advancing in the state Senate. The Texas legislature meets every two years, so the next time it comes up for legalization won’t be until 2025.
It’s only been three years since sports betting was decriminalized at the federal level and made a state issue. Putting at least two more years between then and whenever sportsbooks go online in those three important states isn’t viewed as a bad thing.
“I think the operators now are kind of gathering their breath,” Sportradar COO Andrew Bimson told Front Office Sports. “Because the market opened up, and it opened up in a hurry.”
Currently sports betting revenue is at $7.5 billion. It jumped 61% in 2022 when New York legalized. The belief is that Texas would generate close to $2.5 billion in the first year it went legal.
