As concerns over gambling addiction mount, states are set to rake in millions from Super Bowl bets

Las Vegas, where the Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers will play Sunday, is a city that the National Football League and other professional sports leagues have shunned for decades because of its well-known association with gambling, especially sports betting. Jamie Squire via Getty Images

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Connect with state and local leaders Ebooks Insights & Reports By Daniel C. Vock, Senior Reporter, Route Fifty

Connect with state and local leaders

| Articles | February 9, 2024

Sports betting has spread to 38 states and Washington, D.C., over the past five years. In that time, states have also seen massive increases in calls to gambling addiction hotlines. Plus, more news to use from around the country in this week's State and Local Roundup.

Read Route Fifty's State and Local Roundup. To get this week's news available across the country, sign up here to receive this update every Saturday.

This weekend is the Super Bowl. The spectacle will reveal how state governments have chosen to bet on sports betting in recent years.

Experts expect Americans to bet a record $23 billion on Sunday's game. States have spurred a huge increase in online and in-person betting on sports contests, despite relatively modest revenue growth and a dramatic rise in reports of people struggling with gambling addiction.

Sunday's showdown between the Kansas City Chiefs and the San Francisco 49ers will be played in Las Vegas, a venue shunned by the National Football League and other professional sports leagues.

League commissioners were deeply concerned that gambling on games would tarnish the integrity of their sports and, in turn, alienate fans. And, of course, gambling had led to major scandals that would be talked about decades later, from the 1919 Black Sox to Pete Rose.

That all changed when the Supreme Court took a New Jersey-like view of Nevada's exclusive legal right to allow sports betting, which Congress had enacted in 1992. Suddenly, any state could allow sports betting, and almost every state jumped at the chance. Interest groups for gambling companies like DraftKings and FanDuel have descended on state capitals to legalize the new gambling and secure favorable terms. Currently, 38 states, Washington, D. C., and Puerto Rico allow people to bet on the Super Bowl and other sporting events, and several remaining states are considering similar moves (with the exception of California and Missouri, which are home to Super Bowl teams).

The speed is remarkable. As News Service pointed out, it took nearly 60 years for 40 states to introduce government lotteries, following the introduction of government lotteries in 1964. It took only five years for sports betting to spread to that extent.

One of the reasons for the excitement is that the state can collect taxes from new services. Last year, each state's tax revenue from Sportsbetting was $ 2. 1 billion, increasing from $ 1. 5 billion in 2022. This is certainly important, but for a large business like the state government, it is a relatively small income. The $ 2. 1 billion of domestic sports betting tax up to 2023 is less than the sales tax received last year by Aidaho. In addition, most of the new gambling income is concentrated in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Illinois.

On the other hand, the impact on people complaining of gambling addiction has been extended. Advocacy estimates that about 7 million Americans have experienced gambling addiction.

Kentucky has increased tripled on the state of addictive hotline since the state first permitted sports betting in September. In Ohio, it increased 55 % in the first year of Sports Betting. It was almost doubled in Connecticut State.

The revision of this law was performed at the same time that the technical advancement made it possible for people to bet on almost anywhere using mobile phones. Diana Good, the representative of the Connecticut State Gambling Administration Council, recently told the market that this has reduced the barrier to gambling addiction.

"I had to wear clothes to gamble.

Technology is also used to ensure people who have betted. By using larg e-scale data mining and artificial intelligence, gambling companies can keep betting on everything, from the results of the current movements in the NFL game to the winners of unknown university tennis games. 60 Minutes reports that it can provide services.

Young men are most likely to gamble and experience gambling addiction problems.

For example, a survey has shown that most of the college students have gambling the previous year before sports betting was legalized in North Carolina. Advocates are concerned that the age limit of the new law that restricts gambling to the age of 21 is not enough to prevent young people.

"Older people are more likely to take risks. They may also be less aware of the concept that it's still gambling, whether they have skill or not," Amanda Winters, director of the state's problem gambling program, told the Raleigh News & Lamp. "You can't run away from opportunities."

Advocates who want to prevent gambling addiction have called for a number of changes to state sports betting laws, including limiting offers like free bets that gambling companies use to attract new users, banning the use of credit cards for gambling, making state assistance for people affected by gambling addiction more widely available, and, of course, more funding for these treatment services.

But a 2022 New York Times investigation found that state regulators, swamped by the growing responsibilities already assigned to them, often allow practices that lawmakers specifically prohibit.

There are also calls for federal involvement in treating gambling addiction. In January, two lawmakers introduced a bill in Congress that would redirect federal tax revenues to sports betting to fund gambling addiction treatment.

Keith Whitey, president of the National Council on Problem Gambling, told Marketplace that a state-by-state approach to gambling treatment is outdated.

"Just like we don't look at cancer, diabetes or substance abuse on a state-by-state basis, we need to recognize that we need to look at gambling on a national basis," he said.

It's unclear when other states will join the sports betting frenzy. Georgia lawmakers are considering a constitutional amendment to allow sports betting in the state, but a similar effort failed last year. Alabama, Alaska, California, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Minnesota, Missouri, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas and Utah face headwinds due to ties to Native American tribes, opposition from religious conservatives or high legal hurdles.

However, residents often find how to betting, even in places where sports betting is not legal, such as Missouri. Missouri's 81. more than 81. 000 people in Missouri had an account and used the betting app. According to the Kansas City Beacon, at the highway exchange area near the state border between Kansas and Missouri, GeoComply, because the Missouri residents parked a car beside the road during the playoff period. It is said that 24. 000 transactions were recorded.

Gambling has a powerful charm and provides people who can be drunk that can not be obtained with drugs and alcohol, and Scott Anderson, a gambling problem expert at the Ohio Mental Psychiatric Service Bureau, is on New York Times. I talked.

"Gambling is the only thing that changes the mood of hope." I don't want to sit in a crack house and cover the children's support. "

If you haven't read it yet, you can subscribe to this newsletter here. Then next week.

Usable news

Trends, common issues, cool ideas, FYIS, notable events

• Railway safety: One year after the derailment of East Palestine, the railway industry has denied new safety rules. Norfolk Southern Southern has promised a change since the train accident a year ago. However, in the capital, Washington Post reports that the company's representatives have often issued more provocative words and have joined several to p-class railway companies in the United States to weaken the recently proposed safety bills. 。 The subject of the lobby activity is a proposal of a superb that aims to strengthen railway testing, improve derailment detection technology, and enhance safety measures for dangerous goods. According to the federal government's records, in the past year, five major railway companies in the United States spent about $ 17 million in lobby activities for members of the Diet, and have donated a lot to major members in charge of traffic issues. By doing so, profit groups in the railway industry, from initiatives to install special respiratory devices to engineers, to new rules that require multiple employees on mileage trains, the most basic upgrades are the Biden administration. I have been fighting. < SPAN> However, residents often find how to betting, even in places where sports betting is not legal like Missouri. Missouri's 81. more than 81. 000 people in Missouri had an account and used the betting app. According to Kansas City Beacon, at the highway exchange area near the state border between Kansas and Missouri, Geocomply, because the Missouri residents parked a car beside the road during the playoff period. It is said that 24. 000 transactions were recorded.
• Gambling has a powerful charm and provides people who can be drunk that can not be obtained with drugs and alcohol, and Scott Anderson, a gambling problem expert at the Ohio Mental Psychiatric Service Bureau, is on New York Times. I talked.
• "Gambling is the only thing that changes the mood of hope." I don't want to sit in a crack house and cover the children's support. "
• If you haven't read it yet, you can subscribe to this newsletter here. Then next week.
• Usable news
• Trends, common issues, cool ideas, FYIS, notable events
• Railway safety: One year after the derailment of East Palestine, the railway industry has denied new safety rules. Norfolk Southern Southern has promised a change since the train accident a year ago. However, in the capital, Washington Post reports that the company's representatives have often issued more provocative words and have joined several to p-class railway companies in the United States to weaken the recently proposed safety bills. 。 The subject of the lobby activity is a proposal of a superb that aims to strengthen railway testing, improve derailment detection technology, and enhance safety measures for dangerous goods. According to the federal government's records, in the past year, five major railway companies in the United States spent about $ 17 million in lobby activities for members of the Diet, and have donated a lot to major members in charge of traffic issues. By doing so, profit groups in the railway industry, from initiatives to install special respiratory devices to engineers, to new rules that require multiple staff on mileage trains, even the most basic upgrades are the Biden administration. I have been fighting. However, residents often find how to betting, even in places where sports betting is not legal, such as Missouri. Missouri's 81. more than 81. 000 people in Missouri had an account and used the betting app. According to Kansas City Beacon, at the highway exchange area near the state border between Kansas and Missouri, Geocomply, because the Missouri residents parked a car beside the road during the playoff period. It is said that 24. 000 transactions were recorded.
• Gambling has a powerful charm and provides people who can be drunk that can not be obtained with drugs and alcohol, and Scott Anderson, a gambling problem expert at the Ohio Mental Psychiatric Service Bureau, is on New York Times. I talked.
• "Gambling is the only thing that changes the mood of hope." I don't want to sit in a crack house and cover the children's support. "
• If you haven't read it yet, you can subscribe to this newsletter here. Then next week.
• Usable news

Trends, common issues, cool ideas, FYIS, notable events

Railway safety: One year after the derailment of East Palestine, the railway industry has denied new safety rules. Norfolk Southern Southern has promised a change since the train accident a year ago. However, in the capital, Washington Post reports that the company's representatives have often issued more provocative words and have joined several to p-class railway companies in the United States to weaken the recently proposed safety bills. 。 The subject of the lobby activity is a proposal of a superb that aims to strengthen railway testing, improve derailment detection technology, and enhance safety measures for dangerous goods. According to the federal government's records, in the past year, five major railway companies in the United States spent about $ 17 million in lobby activities for members of the Diet, and have donated a lot to major members in charge of traffic issues. By doing so, profit groups in the railway industry, from initiatives to install special respiratory devices to engineers, to new rules that require multiple employees on mileage trains, the most basic upgrades are the Biden administration. I have been fighting.

Guns: Hawaii Supreme Court upholds firearm law, criticizes U. S. Supreme Court The Hawaii Supreme Court upheld a state law that generally prohibits carrying guns in public without a permit, criticizing the U. S. Supreme Court's conservative majority in expanding gun rights in the process. The U. S. Supreme Court, composed of three justices appointed by the Democratic governor and two appointed by Republicans, unanimously decided 5-0 to overturn a lower court decision that dismissed charges against a man arrested for trespassing on someone's property with an unregistered handgun. In interpreting a provision of the state constitution that is nearly identical to the U. S. Constitution, which states that "a well regulated militia is necessary to the security of a free state, and the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed," the court found that the right is a "militia."Childcare: State legislatures consider tax credits to address child care shortages. Several proposals to address the child care shortage are circulating in state legislatures across the country. In Nebraska, a bill has been introduced to implement a program to cover child care costs for child care workers, similar to Kentucky's. Missouri introduced two proposals on Tuesday, one for a tax credit aimed at expanding child care options and another for a property tax exemption for child care providers. Specifically, there are three types of deductions: for taxpayers who donate to support child care centers, for employers who invest in their employees' child care needs, and for child care providers. Meanwhile, Utah is set to lose about $400 million in federal funding for child care services after federal COVID-19 aid ends. To address the looming child care crisis, lawmakers are considering a bill to convert vacant space in state capital buildings into child care facilities for state employees and other Utahns. The plan will begin as a pilot in six locations.

Natural disaster: Maui Police reported the lessons learned from the fire. As a result of internal survey of Maui police response to the fire that occurred on August 8, many difficulties faced by police officers in the rescue of lives were highlighted, and al l-count covers were not enough, communication, equipment, and others. It became clear that he was facing the problem. This week, the department published a provisional pos t-pos t-postful report on page 98, provided detailed explanations on response and 32 improvements in preparation for future emergency situations. The location of the victim was also announced for the first time. A large number of victims have died along a single road, and they have swept this historic city, showing the fierce fierce fire that killed 100 people. The recommendation is to provide an optional wireless headset to all police officers, create a sel f-dispatched police call sign, and to remove rubble such as trees falling from the street. It was included to be equipped with each supervisor police vehicle.

Public Security: Newsam, Auckland's crime eradication to 120 police officers dispatched to 120 police officers, Governor California announced on Tuesday that 120 highway patrol police officers will be dispatched to Auckland under the new state law execution campaign aimed at increasing vicious crimes and theft. 。 Governor New Sam's decision is that Auckland's crime rate, corporate closure, and campaign for dismissal of the mayor and Arameda County County County have recently been heading. According to Auckland Police's criminal report, the crime of evil in 2023 increased 21 % yea r-o n-year. The murder has exceeded 100 for the fourth consecutive year. The robbery increased by 38 % and the robbery increased 23 %. Automotive theft increased 45 % yea r-o n-year in 2023. The number of homeless people in Auckland has increased by about 1. 000 from 2019 to 2022, and a total of 5. 055 people are sleeping on tents, cars, abandoned houses, or on the street. < SPAN> Natural disaster: Maui Police reported the lessons learned from the fire. As a result of internal survey of Maui police response to the fire that occurred on August 8, many difficulties faced by police officers in the rescue of lives were highlighted, and al l-count covers were not enough, communication, equipment, and others. It became clear that he was facing the problem. This week, the department published a provisional pos t-pos t-postful report on page 98, provided detailed explanations on response and 32 improvements in preparation for future emergency situations. The location of the victim was also announced for the first time. A large number of victims have died along a single road, swelling over this historic city, showing the fierce fierce fire that caused 100 dead. The recommendation is to provide an optional wireless headset to all police officers, create a sel f-dispatched police call sign procedure, and remove rubble such as trees falling from the street. It was included to be equipped with each supervisor police vehicle.

Public Security: Newsam, Auckland's crime eradication to 120 police officers dispatched to 120 police officers, Governor California announced on Tuesday that 120 highway patrol police officers will be dispatched to Auckland under the new state law execution campaign aimed at increasing vicious crimes and theft. 。 Governor New Sam's decision is that Auckland's crime rate, corporate closure, and campaign for dismissal of the mayor and Arameda County County County have recently been heading. According to Auckland Police's criminal report, the crime of evil in 2023 increased 21 % yea r-o n-year. The murder has exceeded 100 for the fourth consecutive year. The robbery increased by 38 % and the robbery increased 23 %. Automotive theft increased 45 % yea r-o n-year in 2023. The number of homeless people in Auckland has increased by about 1. 000 from 2019 to 2022, and a total of 5. 055 people are sleeping on tents, cars, abandoned houses, or on the street. Natural disaster: Maui Police reported the lessons learned from the fire. As a result of internal survey of Maui police response to the fire that occurred on August 8, many difficulties faced by police officers in the rescue of lives were highlighted, and al l-count covers were not enough, communication, equipment, and others. It became clear that he was facing the problem. This week, the department published a provisional pos t-pos t-postful report on page 98, provided detailed explanations on response and 32 improvements in preparation for future emergency situations. The location of the victim was also announced for the first time. A large number of victims have died along a single road, and they have swept this historic city, showing the fierce fierce fire that killed 100 people. The recommendation is to provide an optional wireless headset to all police officers, create a sel f-dispatched police call sign, and to remove rubble such as trees falling from the street. It was included to be equipped with each supervisor police vehicle.