For generations, Americans have bet on sports. What has changed in recent years is not human behavior but public policy. States like Massachusetts have chosen to bring a longstanding activity out of the shadows and into a transparent, regulated marketplace designed to protect consumers, preserve the integrity of competition, and generate dollars for public benefits such as education and health care.
That choice deserves a clear-eyed assessment grounded in facts, not fear.
Legal online sports wagering is now available in more than 30 states because policy makers overwhelmingly recognized the simple truth that prohibition at the federal level didn’t stop betting. It pushed the activity offshore, where there are no age checks, no spending limits, no consumer protections, and no ability for regulators or law enforcement to see what was happening. Legalization and regulation have, so far, been the most powerful disinfectant to wipe away the black market in the United States.
Of course, accountability in the legal market matters most when we talk about public health. While about three-quarters of Americans favor legal, regulated sports betting in their state, according to American Gaming Association findings, some Americans, roughly 3 to 4 percent, experience problem gambling.
But legal markets also do something illegal ones never have: We fund solutions and help customers find resources. Regulated operators collectively invest hundreds of millions of dollars each year in responsible-gaming tools, education, research, and treatment services. These include deposit and time limits, self-exclusion programs, and trained staff who intervene when play shows signs of risk. None of these safeguards exist offshore.
New Jersey provides a clear example as a jurisdiction that has long embraced legalization and regulation. A study conducted by Rutgers University found that the prevalence rate of high-risk problem gambling remained stable at about 6 percent between 2017 and 2021, even after sports betting was legalized in the state in 2018 and iGaming, or online casino gambling, was legalized in 2013. Similar results have been documented in Connecticut, where problem gambling rates were unchanged over a 15-year period between 2008 and 2023, and Indiana, where they fell from 2021 to 2024, to name other jurisdictions with online sports wagering.
At the national level, the National Council on Problem Gambling testified before Congress in 2024 that risky gambling behaviors spiked during the pandemic — alongside many other stress-related behaviors — but have since leveled off. That context matters.
Economic indicators show that Americans are betting responsibly even as more have the ability to bet legally. A Progressive Policy Institute report issued last year found no increase in bankruptcies or financial instability in states that legalized mobile sports betting, and gambling’s overall share of total consumer spending remained steady at just over 1 percent as more states legalized sports betting. Other national indicators such as savings rates and retirement contributions have also remained healthy or relatively steady, even as the legal betting industry has grown.
Critics now point to recent sports scandals as evidence that betting threatens the games themselves. The opposite is true. These incidents involving professional athletes were detected precisely because betting is now legal, monitored, and transparent. Regulated sportsbooks flag unusual wagering patterns in real time and share that information with leagues and law enforcement. That data helped expose misconduct in both the National Basketball Association and Major League Baseball — activity that would have remained hidden in an illegal market.
There is also a broader public benefit worth acknowledging. Legal sports betting has generated billions of dollars in tax revenue nationwide, funding education, infrastructure, and local aid. It supports more than ten thousand US jobs and has dramatically reduced the size of the illegal market that once dominated sports wagering in the United States. In 2019, 56 percent of all bets in the United States were illegal. Today, legalization has put a dent in those markets, with 77 percent of all bets in the United States now in legal markets.
None of this is an argument for complacency. Sports betting is not risk-free. A small number of people will struggle, and they deserve serious attention and support. That is why smart regulation matters — and why rolling back legal markets would be a step backward.
The real choice facing states is not between betting and no betting. It is between a regulated environment with safeguards, transparency, and public oversight — and an unregulated one with none of the above.
Massachusetts chose regulation. The data show it was the right call.
Joe Maloney is the president of the Sports Betting Alliance, a trade advocacy organization representing legal, regulated online sportsbook operators.