USA is Embracing Online Gambling

With online gambling coming to the fore in US discourse recently, it’s not a shock to see it being a success. There are lots of states that have legalized online gambling, and this has led to increased revenues in terms of taxes right off the bat. While there have been peaks and troughs, just like with any new endeavour, the signs are that online gambling will be a long- term success in the US. We take a look at what it has to offer to players so far. 

Economy

The facts surrounding gambling online in the States are difficult to lay out at the moment. The reason for this, is that the Covid-19 issues meant that the figures can’t be completely trusted to show an accurate sign of where the market is headed. 

An example of this, is that for some periods of the pandemic, there were increases in monthly revenue. Part of this, was due to parts of the world being in lockdown, as well as online gambling being a way to spend disposable income. However, once this novelty wore off, the revenue significantly decreased. It meant that 2019 and 2020 saw significantly lower revenue globally when compared to previous years. 

However, this is an unfair metric to level at the US market. As it is a new market, which a lot of them were launched in the midst of the pandemic, it means that it doesn’t have long- term data with which to judge it. So, it’s not possible to say whether it has been a failure due to the circumstances surrounding its launch. By this measure, it means that people will have to look at the bigger picture surrounding the economics of online gambling in the US.

One of the best ways to measure this, is to look at increases in revenue for the states that have legalized online gambling.  All states that have done this have seen an increase in tax revenue. This means that those states are able to invest more in the infrastructure of the state and will see more long-term benefits. As the market stabilizes, it’s likely that this will see the revenue increase over time in a less volatile fashion. 

Of course, despite the pandemic issues, there were some companies that saw positive revenue during this time. It’s important to note that this is generally an anomaly, and moving forward, it’s likely that revenues will dip slightly before correcting themselves. 

Sports Betting is Outside of Traditional Scope

Sports betting has a strange relationship to other forms of gambling. Firstly, a lot of people see it as part of the sport experience itself. So, it’s not viewed quite as negatively as casino gambling. This attitude is mainly prevalent in Europe, but as sportsbooks have become legal, it’s likely to permeate within the USA as well. 

It means that sports betting is often unaffected by traditional market peaks and troughs. In fact, the only thing that really impacted on the number of sports bets that were placed during Covid-19, was games being cancelled. Obviously as games were called off, it meant that players didn’t have anything to bet on. 

So, the revenue from sports betting has remained relatively consistent, notwithstanding a few small anomalies from cancellations. This has allowed sportsbooks to generally remain recession proof. 

What it also has is more ability for growth than other areas of gambling. Sportsbooks have new sports emerging on a consistent basis. This allows for more choice to be offered, and generally more markets to be available. A great example of this, is the emergence of eSports as a viable spectator sport. As this has become more popular, it has become available as a betting choice on a lot of different sportsbooks. This doesn’t just provide a new option to existing customers, but it also opens up sportsbooks to a new customer base.  It makes it very easy for sports betting to continuously increase its level of revenue. 

This is very similar to the addition of live betting to the sports betting roster. Players have had the ability to place bets on different games, while they are already underway added to their options. It means that players can create extra value if they are watching the game with a sharp eye. This created an almost completely new market within sports betting, which increased the level of popularity it had. While it’s unlikely that eSports will have a similar impact right at this moment, it’s possible that it could happen further down the line. Especially if eSports continues to grow at its current rate.