In May 2018, Congress repealed the infamous Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA), which prohibited betting on professional and amateur sports. That too was decisively overturned by the Supreme Court. Sports betting in the United States, online and otherwise, is poised to continue its rapid growth both culturally and economically.
So why did it take so long for the majority of Americans (the general public and politicians alike) to take up sports betting? This article explores everything from the famous match-fixing conspiracy to the turmoil of America's westward expansion. Explore the history of the evolution of attitudes towards sports betting in the United States, touching on everything from history to history.
Attitudes toward gambling have existed since the time of the Pilgrims.
For a country built around a constitution that privileges individual freedom above all else, the United States has taken a surprisingly long time to warm up to sports betting and gambling.
Lotteries were legal and an integral part of colonial America, but in 1630 the Massachusetts Bay Colony criminalized mere lottery tickets. Possession Both dice and cards. Much of the hostility toward gambling during this era was a result of the conservative Christian values that dominated America's first colonies. The Puritan Pilgrims were staunchly anti-gambling, and their stance on games of chance soon became a social norm.
During the Wild West of the 1800s, crowds sometimes resorted to extreme, unjust, and violent measures to enforce social order as a way to pacify the lawless and unruly frontiers of the West. It was not uncommon for sharps to be lynched by angry Puritan mobs.
As I wrote in a three-part series on the history of sports betting laws, economic downturns in the late 18th and early 19th centuries led to the criminalization of all forms of gambling (yes, even lotteries).
The Great Depression brought gambling back into American life.
Thankfully, the U.S. government realized the potential benefits of legalized gambling in the early 1930s. To raise tax money during the Great Depression of 1931, Franklin D. Roosevelt allowed Nevada to legalize gambling. Many US states followed suit, and legal forms of gambling began to blossom across the country.
Despite gambling revenues playing a major role in rebuilding the economy, sports betting (excluding horse racing) remained widely condemned across the United States.
The question of why sports betting continued to have such a negative image while attitudes towards gambling improved at the same time is complex.
Why was gambling allowed and sports betting not?
Sports are an important part of American cultural life. Currently, 63% of Americans consider themselves avid sports fans. More specifically, they're fans of the four major professional leagues (NFL, MLB, NBA, and NHL), but amateur and college sports are also becoming more popular.
It's clear that Americans love their sports, which is why so many Americans were outraged by the greatest sports betting conspiracy in history. There were many notable sports betting conspiracies in the 20th century, but the most infamous occurred on American soil.
The 1919 Black Sox scandal was perhaps the most infamous sports gambling conspiracy in world history. The City University of New York scandal of 1950 sent ripples across the United States. One of the most notorious gangsters in American history, Henry Hill (based on Martin Scorsese's classic film, goodfellas) brought down one of America's most prominent Mafiosi by implicating himself and his fellow mob members in the 1978 Boston University point deduction scandal.
Why were these scandals so damaging?
In the eyes of the American public, these national scandals solidified the ties between the mob and sports gambling. As a result, many believed that betting on sports made them vulnerable to corruption, manipulation, and fraud.
It was also believed that bookmakers could artificially produce results through financial inducements (as was the case in many of the 20th century's great scandals).
Americans, especially government officials, had no interest in entertaining anything that might undermine the integrity of the sport or aid the mob. The legalization of sports betting was not exactly a start, as there was no overwhelming desire of the people to put political pressure on the government.
Because so many Americans are deeply invested in sports, these negative attitudes toward sports betting will spread like wildfire among the public and politicians alike, ultimately leading to these negative attitudes. Attitudes have become entrenched.
Sports betting conspiracies and match-fixing scandals have been inseparable from Americans' attitudes toward sports betting. That is, until recently.
Special interests hinder legal sports betting
It may seem counterintuitive, but casino owners across the country are lobbying hard to prevent the legalization of sports betting.
Casinos have always had a vested interest in controlling where people bet. The owners want to maintain a monopoly on American gambling funds for as long as possible. These owners know there will be competition if sports betting is legal. Even if they open a sportsbook inside a casino, they will have to deal with a slew of new competitors in the market.
More competitors lead to a decrease in market share, which means lower profits. As such, they continue to fight against the growth and popularity of sports betting in the United States.
Even before PAPSA was overturned, casino owners were already losing ground to legal and licensed offshore sportsbooks.They are now actively trying to avoid losses addition We donate dollars whenever possible to US-based sportsbooks.
Americans' attitudes toward gambling are changing
Despite historically negative attitudes toward sports betting, things are finally changing in the United States. The stigma historically associated with sports betting is beginning to fade, according to a landmark Washington Post poll.
Why did it take so long?
In 1919, the MLB commissioner condemned all forms of sports betting and declared the practice detrimental to all professional sports. Ninety-five years later, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver publicly declared his support for sports betting. He declared its legalization “inevitable” with his foresight, undoing much of the damage legalization had done to sports betting's reputation. What could be a more telling indicator of how much attitudes towards sports betting have changed?
Jeff Freeman, president and CEO of the American Gaming Association, also cited positive attitudes toward sports betting, including the rise of the Internet (and online sportsbooks), the proliferation of casinos nationwide, and the popularity of fantasy sports. He pointed out that there are additional factors that promote this. As exposure to sports betting has increased, attitudes toward it have also improved.
Freeman's remarks on the rise of sports betting are particularly thought-provoking.
“As our industry expanded, we faced many fears and concerns, but over time we found those fears and concerns were often misplaced.”
While Americans may have initially been skeptical about the legalization of sports betting and its visibility in sports culture, they are quickly realizing that they have nothing to fear. At the end of the day, legalizing sports betting only serves to take it out of the hands of bad guys and criminals.
Stronger legal regulations mean more transparency, and more transparency means better health for sports betting and the sport itself.
Sports betting to be lifted in 2018
As mentioned at the beginning, the federal ban on sports betting is no longer in effect. Although the SCOTUS ruling was not strictly a change in American attitudes, progress would not have been made without political pressure from the public.
As outlined in our futures tracker on sports betting legalized at the state level, New Jersey has undertaken a long and concerted effort to challenge the federal ban. After many failed attempts to overturn PASPA, they finally succeeded in 2018.
Sports betting in the US is more popular than ever
Citizens are finally allowed to exercise their personal freedom to the fullest by betting on sports. Federal recognition and full legalization may have taken hundreds of years, but it's finally here.
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