Aside from Nevada, and its crown jewel city of Las Vegas, New York, and New Jersey, there are a number of states vying for the title of the fourth-best state for sports betting. Some jumped on the bandwagon early and have tried to claim that title with a head start on states that needed more time to decide on the legality of sports betting, such as Pennsylvania, whose citizens were able to cast their first legal wager just six months after the United States Supreme Court’s decision to repeal the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992 in 2018. Others could compete for the spot through sheer population alone, such as California, Texas, or Florida, given that their legislative bodies eventually bring sports betting within their borders, of course.
Different sports betting markets in the United States
Between Nevada, New York, and New Jersey, the three top sports betting states in the country aren’t just built through a population game alone, however. In fact, only New York could even give credence to that line of thinking. For Nevada, the success of sports betting in the state was built on a solid foundation laid from nearly a century’s worth of history with sports gambling.While sports betting often turns into a topic used to score political points, its overwhelming popularity was what pushed legalization in the end. Although Nevada wasn’t the quickest state to bring in sports betting following the Supreme Court’s decision to return the legality back to each individual state to decide, their citizens already had a familiarity and an understanding with it, so it became a quick success.
For New Jersey, it’s been more about the type of people than the number. Boasting one of the most storied cities in all of gambling in Atlantic City, it was no surprise to see New Jersians take to sports betting quickly and remain one of the most successful markets in the country. For the state of Louisiana, its goal should be to emulate the success that New Jersey has had with sports betting within its own market.
Early sports betting success in Louisiana
With its history with riverboat casinos and New Orleans being a natural mecca for gambling and sports betting, sites like lasportsbettingsites.com estimate that Louisiana should be one of the most successful markets for U.S. sportsbooks, and the numbers backing that hunch have been encouraging so far.
Like Nevada, Louisiana took its time legislating in sports betting, with retail sportsbooks opening up in October 2021 and mobile betting having launched in January 2022. The mobile sports betting venture has been an objectively smashing success so far. Prior to launch, legislators estimated that sports betting could generate up to $30 million in tax revenue for the state.
From January 2022 to January 2023, operators in Louisiana took on more than $2 billion in wagers, with over 85 percent of those bets having been placed online or through mobile apps. That resulted in over $32 million in tax revenue for the state, blowing past the initial expectations.
Sports betting still growing in Louisiana
This was fantastic news not just for the sportsbooks in Louisiana, but also for all of its citizens. As per the addendum that legalized sports betting in the state, 25 percent of all tax revenue will be allocated towards early childhood education for the kids of Louisiana, 10 percent would be distributed to local governments, and the remainder will be spent towards combating gambling addictions and supporting awareness programs.
Despite the quick start, the momentum is only growing for sports betting in Louisiana. Despite a relatively down year for local teams, with the New Orleans Saints struggling and the LSU Tigers having taken a step back in both football and baseball, sportsbooks still grew their revenue year-over-year from August 2022 to August 2023, going from $7.3 million in 2022 to over $15 million in revenue from mobile betting. It’ll be interesting to see how large the market can grow in Louisiana.
