One of the few issues on which voters from both parties can agree is that casinos and sports betting get approval from both Democrats and Republicans.
The Survey Says Gambling is Okay in the USA
The American Gaming Association recently surveyed Americans on both sides of the political aisle, and it revealed that approximately 75% of respondents from both parties supported casino gambling, while 69% believed sports betting was fine as well.
CNBC Correspondent Contessa Brewer reported on the findings and stated, “While many industries are gaming out which candidate might be better in office, the gambling industry is looking at how presidential politics intersects with attitudes about wagering.”
A whopping 38 states have adopted sports betting, and 10 of the 12 remaining states have some form of gambling like a lottery. Utah and Hawaii are the only holdouts offering no form of gambling whatsoever. But America’s two most populated states, California (39.6 million) and Texas (29.7 million), have yet to approve online sports betting, which would be a massive boom to the domestic sports betting companies.
California’s tribal nations want sports betting for themselves and defeated a sports betting initiative brought by the national gaming operators twice already. They believe sports betting is in their future but want to do it their way and on their schedule.
Powerful Texas legislators have put the clamps on sports betting, but Brewer speculated that “another Trump presidency could result in either Texas Governor Greg Abbott or Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick joining Trump’s cabinet. And that would remove the major roadblocks to gambling for the nation’s second most populous state—a big deal there.”
Online Casino Gambling Brings the Big Money
Mobile sports betting has created an impressive revenue stream for the states that have chosen to license it, but many of those same states have shied away from online casino gambling, often referred to as iGaming.
Of the 38 states that have legalized sports betting in their jurisdictions, only seven have approved iGaming, including Connecticut, Delaware, Michigan, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and West Virginia. And the data reveals that iGaming revenue dwarfs mobile sports betting revenue. For example, in August, iGaming revenues in New Jersey totaled $198.4 million, compared to just $62.7 million for sports betting.
“But iGaming, or online casino games, provide the bigger opportunity for gaming revenue and tax revenue, and right now, only seven states offer it,” said Brewer. “None have new legislation under consideration, so candidates who want to spend big and are looking to new funding, maybe gambling is the best bet.”
As for presidential election betting, domestic sports betting sites are not allowed to carry those political markets, but many of the respected offshore sites like BetOnline (visit our BetOnline Review), Bookmaker(visit our Bookmaker Review), or Heritage Sports (visit our Heritage Sports Review) do offer presidential odds. As of this writing, Donald Trump is the growing favorite at a consensus of -205/+175.
Calculators
