The States That Are Most Likely To Be Next To Legalize Sports Betting In 2019

As of the end of the first full week of 2019, nine states and Washington D.C. are operating, or in the midst of launching, sports betting within their respective borders. Those jurisdictions have acted very quickly since the U.S. Supreme Court removed a federal prohibition in May 2018 that previously precluded full-fledged sports betting beyond Nevada.

Everyone wants to know what states will be next to authorize sports betting regulations for their citizens and visitors. A new report from research group Eilers & Krejcik Gaming takes a stab at answering that question.

The team at Eilers & Krejcik Gaming predicts that Michigan, Oregon, New York, Indiana, Kansas and Louisiana each have a strong chance of passing legislation to enable or expand sports betting in 2019. Together, these states account for roughly 15% of the entire U.S. population. The research group points out that 10% of the current U.S. population already has access to legalized sports betting.

It is fair to project that roughly 25% of the U.S. population has easy access to legalized sports betting by the close of 2019.

While New York is certainly a big, if not the biggest, market for sports betting (with approximately 6% of the U.S. population), other large markets may be sitting on the sidelines for quite some time. The report projects that California, Texas and Virginia will probably consider sports betting expansion; however, they are unlikely to see true progress until at least 2020.

Eliers & Krejcik Gaming believes there are another eleven states that have some chance of legalizing sports wagering in 2019, in addition to the aforesaid six states labeled as having a strong chance of legalizing sports betting. Those eleven states identified by the research group are Colorado, South Dakota, Oklahoma, Missouri, Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Ohio, Maryland, Connecticut and Massachusetts.

The State of Florida is indicated as one with a low chance of passing a sports betting bill in 2019.

Finally, while there may be strong optimism surrounding the six states projected to pass sports betting legislation in 2019, there is one major question lingering for most of the territories. Will they offer full online/mobile sports betting? It is an important question that consumers will want to keep an eye on. For instance, New York State Senator Joseph Addabbo recently stated that sports betting in his state can be “phased in over time” and suggested that legalized online betting may not be a possibility until 2021. That would be quite unfortunate for New York consumers hoping to be able to place bets from the comfort of their homes.