ORLANDO, Fla. – Legal sports betting in the United States has exploded in less than a decade, and it all started in the unlikeliest of places: the U.S. Supreme Court.
Now, before you get visions of justices placing bets on their smartphones left and right (maybe they do, maybe they don’t?), I’m sure logic will take over and tell you online sports betting was legalized because of a case that was appealed all the way up to the highest court in the country.
Without getting into too many details, on May 14, 2018, in a 6-3 decision, the Court struck down a federal law known as PASPA – the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992. PASPA allowed only Delaware, Montana, Oregon, and Nevada to legally have establishments that could wager on sports (outside of horse racing, greyhound racing, and jai alai).
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The decision to overturn PASPA came from the landmark case Murphy v. National Collegiate Athletic Association, in which the Court ruled that PASPA violated the Constitution by improperly commandeering state power over legalized sports betting. Translation: Congress did not have the power to prohibit states from legalizing sports betting if the states chose to do so.
And in doing so the Court cleared the way for states to decide on whether they would allow online sports wagering. To date, 38 states and the District of Columbia have cashed in.
In the short span of seven years, the online gambling industry has grown at what the Financial Times calls “breakneck speed.” Last year, the industry was pegged at being worth around $14 billion with FanDuel and DraftKings owning about 80% of the U.S. market.
So, what’s fueling the boom? Why has online sports betting become so popular? The answer: Three factors – convenience, low risk, and a lure of a high reward.
- Convenience: People looking to bet on sports no longer need to travel to a physical casino or what’s known as a sportsbook (a sportsbook is where a gambler can bet on various games). With a few taps on a mobile app, odds are displayed, bets are placed, and transactions are settled, all instantly. The TransUnion US Betting Report states: “The widespread legalization and significant adoption of online sports betting have driven increased demand among US consumers.” Some other surprises from the Q1 2025 report:
- Increase in participation was driven by older generations with noteworthy growth among Baby Boomers and Gen X’ers
- Millennial participation has started trailing off (down 5%)
- The most active bettors struggled with bills and showed more volatile financial behavior with savings and credit
- The percentage of bettors spending $500 or more per month decreased
- Perceived Low Risk: Many users view online sports betting as relatively low-stakes entertainment rather than a high-stakes gamble because minimum bets can be small, making the barrier to entry low. That has broadened the user base, moving beyond seasoned gamblers to now include the casual fan wagering on a favorite game or team. Moreover, the industry’s expansion is showing up in hard revenue numbers. Goldman Sachs thinks this revenue could reach $65 billion by 2033.
- High Reward: A recent Sept. 2025 report by the American Gaming Association stated that all but four states saw a year-to-year increase in combined revenue from traditional casino games, sports betting, and iGaming. The AGA also reported that in 2024, legal sportsbooks took nearly $150 billion worth of bets, producing $13.71 billion in revenue. The combination of “frictionless access”, relative affordability, and an immense upside (if you win), has made online sports betting one of America’s fastest-growing entertainment industries.
The sudden surge of online gambling is mind-boggling. Bloomberg reported that in June of 2018, U.S. gamblers wagered just over $300 million for the month. In just three years, that figure ballooned to $7 billion a month (Oct. 2021). According to ESPN, Americans bet a record $119.84 billion legally in 2023 (a 27.8% increase over 2022), generating $10.92 billion in revenue for operators, and billions more in state tax revenue. Five new legal states for sports betting came online in 2023: Kentucky, Maine, Massachusetts, Nebraska, and Ohio.
The betting boom hasn’t stopped at sports.
Earlier this year, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission gave approval to Kalshi, a federally regulated exchange that lets people wager on political and economic events from whether the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates to how many seats a party will win in Congress. While Kalshi insists these are “event contracts” rather than gambling, critics argue the distinction is thin.
Kalshi, along with its biggest competitor Polymarket, is not subject to gambling laws because it is regulated as a derivatives exchange. The Wall Street Journal notes that regulators have struggled to define the line between financial instruments and gambling. Bottom line: Kalshi represents the next step in America’s “gamblification” of everyday life (yes, gamblification is a non-word I spun-up from the combination of gambling and gamification). As one Medium writer put it, “It’s like turning your opinion into a tradable asset.” Curious about how Kalshi works – follow this link to that same Medium article.
So, we’ve seen the birth of online gambling, the growth of online gambling, but what about the future?
Looking ahead, analysts see no slowdown. The Financial Times reports Flutter, the parent company of FanDuel, believes the U.S. market for sports betting and online casino games could hit $63 billion annually just for the U.S. by 2030.
One last thing to note is how Floridians are affected by the Supreme Court. Here in the Sunshine State, Floridians can only use Hard Rock Bet to legally gamble online. Though we commonly see ads for DraftKings and FanDuel on TV and social media, they are only available for fantasy contests, not sportsbook betting. Dabble and PrizePicks are also available in Florida, but they are strictly fantasy sports apps.
The Seminole Tribe of Florida has exclusive rights to online sports gambling in the state through the Hard Rock Bet platform (officially launched on Dec. 7, 2023). The exclusivity is part of the Tribe’s 30-year gaming compact with the state. In return for the right to run sports betting in the state, the Seminole Tribe agreed to share a portion of the revenue generated from sports betting with the state, money that helps fund state programs and services.
The Seminole Tribe of Florida also operates the only legal sportsbook locations throughout the state (six of them): Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Tampa (Tampa Bay), Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Hollywood (South Florida), Seminole Casino Coconut Creek (South Florida), Seminole Casino Immokalee (Collier County near Ft. Myers), Seminole Casino Brighton (southwest of Port St. Lucie), and Seminole Classic Casino (South Florida).
And has gambling in Florida been a hit? Absolutely. How much exactly has the Seminole Tribe of Florida made? Tough to say. One estimate puts yearly revenue for the Tribe in Florida at over $2 billion a year. And how much does the state get – one article puts it at a yearly payout of 13.75%. In 2024, that was worth over $650 million to the state of Florida.
To wrap this up: The biggest deals are yet to come for mobile gambling sites as California, Georgia, and Texas are just three of more than a dozen states that still have not embraced online sports betting.
If you or someone you know needs help with a gambling addiction, please reach out to the Florida Council on Compulsive Gambling. They can be reached at 888-ADMIT-IT or 888-236-4848.