Sports Gambling Research Paper

Big Money: The Legalization of Sports Gambling Each year, more than $380 billion is wagered legally and illegally on sports (Egan, “Sports betting vs. the Stock Market: Which is Riskier”). It’s estimated that only about 4% or roughly $1.5 billion is wagered legally in the state of Nevada, the only state where sports gambling is legal (Egan, “Sports betting vs. the Stock Market: Which is Riskier”). This means that billions of dollars is currently changing hands illegally and untaxed. The majority of the wagers are placed either through local bookies or online sportsbooks based outside of the United States in an attempt to avoid prosecution from the US government. A sportsbook is a website or a place where a gambler can go and place wagers on

The fact that nearly $365 billion dollars is changing hands each year without a single penny being taxed is quite concerning. Wouldn’t it make sense to legalize sports gambling which could provide additional revenue for local governments and schools while also creating additional job opportunities? According to a 2008 Gallup poll, one in six US citizens had gambled in the previous 12 months, a number that has no doubted grown by today (Jones, "One in Six Americans Gamble on Sports."). Sports gambling could be run very similar to state lotteries which would allow it to be tightly regulated and

Gambling addiction is certainly a concerning issue and one that would need to be studied closely. Gambling addiction currently only affects about 2-5% of Americans (Dryden-Edwards, "Gambling Addiction: Treatment Can Help"). One other major concern is political corruption. Some are concerned that there will be many backroom deals in order to push legalized gambling through. These are both things that would need to be considered should sports gambling move closer to being legalized. However, these issues exist today and the rise in addiction or political corruption is