Since the Supreme Court’s 2018 decision to strike down the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA), sports betting has been legalized in 38 states and counting, and business is booming. In seven years, it’s become a $18 billion industry, one of the most rapid expansions of a legal consumer market in modern U.S. history—transforming sports bets from a water cooler hobby to standard fare American entertainment.
When the NFL’s new season kicks off in full this weekend, the debate around this growing market is sure to resurface. Thursday night saw the Eagles host the Cowboys in a game in which millions in bets were likely placed. Pennsylvania legalized sports betting just before the SCOTUS ruling, and the Texan home of the Cowboys still doesn’t allow it online or in the state’s tribal casinos.
But only one of those two states is able to log receipts, tax revenue, and regulate it appropriately. Texans will flock to neighboring states such as Louisiana and Arkansas, or flood offshore betting sites, dropping dollars on foreign operators who treat consumer protections as a punchline.
While Texas keeps legal sports betting at bay, new forms of playing the odds are entering the market under a different classification, such as prediction market apps like Kalshi. Instead of players betting against the house, like with a sportsbook, these are peer-to-peer contracts where individuals buy and sell futures for different contests.
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