In the wake of New Jersey’s dramatic Supreme Court victory, the door is now open for all states to legalize sports betting.
And some states already have a head start.
With developments changing on a weekly basis, The Action Network provides a bite-size look at where your state stands as of July 14.
Category 1: States with sports betting laws already enacted
Nevada — and now New Jersey and Delaware — have sports betting laws on the books and are open for business, with all three states offering a full menu of legal sports betting options.
A handful of other states already have laws on the books that could now be activated in light of the Supreme Court’s decision. For example, New York passed a law a few years ago that would permit sports betting in select locations if the federal ban was subsequently overruled or amended. Mississippi and West Virginia could go live as soon as the start of the upcoming college and pro football seasons, while Rhode Island is targeting an Oct. 1 launch.
Here are all the states falling under this category:
Delaware
Mississippi
Nevada
New Jersey
New York
Pennsylvania
Rhode Island
West Virginia
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Category 2: States with sports betting laws currently under consideration
Several states saw sports betting bills introduced in 2017 and 2018. Some remain "live" and under consideration during the current state legislative session. Several states, including Illinois, held hearings on one or more bills. One state — California — has an upcoming voter referendum to consider amending the state constitution and allow sports betting.
These states include:
California
Kentucky
Illinois
Ohio
Category 3: States with recently introduced sports betting laws that are now dormant
Indiana was the first state to introduce a sports betting bill in 2018, but the state’s legislative session closed without the bill being passed into law. Several other states saw sports-betting bills come and go during the first half of 2018 in similar fashion. While all of the bills could be recycled in a future legislative term, they are not currently under consideration.
States in this category include:
Connecticut
Indiana
Iowa
Kansas
Louisiana
Maryland
Massachusetts
Michigan
Minnesota
Missouri
Oklahoma
South Carolina
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Category 4: No new sports betting bill considered … yet
Most states stayed on the sideline as the Supreme Court lawsuit was pending. All of these states have yet to introduce any sports betting-enabling bills during the past year. Two of these states — Montana and Oregon — have dated laws from 25-plus years ago that permitted sports betting but neither state has moved to update its laws within the past 12 months.
Here they are:
Alaska
Alabama
Arkansas
Arizona
Colorado
Florida
Georgia
Hawaii
Idaho
Maine
Montana
Nebraska
New Hampshire
New Mexico
North Carolina
North Dakota
Oregon
South Dakota
Tennessee
Texas
Utah
Vermont
Virginia
Washington State
Wisconsin
Wyoming
