On January 1st, 2014, the first legal marijuana dispensary opened in Colorado and the rest is history. Ever since, the real estate industry in the cities are thriving, tax money from marijuana is being funded back into state programs, crime is decreasing as well as money spent on criminals. This is all due to the legalization of marijuana (Roberts). While the legalization of marijuana is not my chosen topic of research, it is important to understand how similar the topics are. My topic, legalizing sports betting in the United States, has been a big story in the news lately. It is compared to the legalization of weed by assessing the benefits they can offer, but also the amount of trouble you can get in if you do it illegally. The market for both of these activities continues to grow whether it is illegal or not and the states that have legalized either one are benefiting greatly. This begs the question, why hasn’t everyone else followed suit?

Sports gambling in America is currently banned in every state except Nevada, Oregon, Delaware and Montana for so called “good reasons”. Nevada however, is the only state where it is truly legal to bet on sports; the other three states can only parlay, meaning using money won from one bet and placing it towards another. When the law banning sports betting was passed in 1961, Nevada was allowed to continue sports betting due to a clause that grandfathered Las Vegas. Thus, Las Vegas is considered the sports gambling capitol of the world raking in an incredible amount of money per year all legally; approximately four billion dollars (Miller).  However, if you were to place a bet anywhere other than Las Vegas or any of these three states you are technically breaking the law, just like smoking marijuana in a non-legalized state. These two activities to an outsider do not seem to have any relation to each other, but they can both send you to jail and cost you a lot of money in fines. Through various websites, databases and books, it has been concluded that legal sports betting can make money for states, eliminate betting crime while creating less sketchy bookies, make sports more honorable, allow people to bet legally, and create tax and revenue streams. We can thus conclude that the legalization of sports betting should happen and should happen now. 

Legalizing sports betting would bring in much needed cash for U.S states. Many states are having money issues and are in need of some sort of extra cash to continue businesses and keep the state and its cities from going bankrupt. Take for example Atlantic City, New Jersey, where according to Chad Millman, “The resort town of Atlantic City is in dire economic straits. Its unemployment rate is eleven percent, double the national average. Some casinos want to tap in to illegal sports betting to revive this area” (PBS NewsHour). Casinos going into this market could spell trouble for the entire city because the casinos are the main source of attraction and revenue. If the casinos got in trouble with the law they could be banned from Atlantic City leaving very few reasons to visit. With the legalization of sports gambling in cities like Atlantic City, money made at casinos and other places where bets are placed could generate money and not only fund that back into the cities and states infrastructure and economy, but other statewide programs. 

In a similar fashion regarding the needs of the state, Dennis Drazzin, in an interview conducted by PBS NewsHour, reiterates this same message: “The betting is already happening, so why let the criminals profit. Figure out a way to do this and regulate, tax and provide revenues for the needs of the state” (PBS NewsHour). Some of the needs for the state include parks, roads, buildings, fixing run down neighborhoods and future projects that could bring more people and money. Sports gambling makes a lot of money period, whether it be legally or illegal and it seems preposterous not to use that money and fund it back into the state the bet was placed in. It was estimated that the illegal gambling turnover can reach as high as 400 billion dollars per year (theAlphaBrain). That is an astronomical number that goes into the hands of criminals, not back into the economy. With the legalization of sports betting we can revive cities and states by providing extra cash flow into the economy, casinos, as well as helping to fund other state run programs. 

Currently, sports gambling is associated with crime and that makes sense, it is undeniable just like buying and selling marijuana is; a lot of people do it and it is legal in some states, but if caught in others you get in trouble. With the trade of an illegal substance or placing money illegally, someone wins and someone loses. However, if you are unhappy or felt you have been cheated, you cannot go to the police because you partook in an illegal activity; that would only get you in trouble, not the one who scammed you. According to Hayden Bird this concept, “Leads to the creation of an entire subculture of sketchy bookies” (Bird). This in turn creates underground crime that stems from sports betting and those who profit illegally cannot be caught by the government for scamming someone. If though gambling were legal but regulated, these sketchy bookies would either be run out of business or caught by the government and forced pay for their actions. Illegal sports betting creates crime in places and within people that would not normally commit a crime. With that said, it makes sense for crimes sake, to legalize sports betting. 

Apart from stopping crime, making sports betting legal would lead to more honorable sports games. In the past and present, there have been examples of dishonorable teams, players and coaches that have purposely lost games just so they could win some money on bets. This sadly can happen under the current law banning sports gambling. Since it is illegal, all people related to the actual outcome of the game of are held liable not to cheat, but some feel nobody would think they would be dumb enough to even try to cheat. This in turn actually promotes cheating. One of the most recent cases involved an NBA referee named Tim Donaghy, who was caught fixing NBA games to make money through bets on the side. The commissioner of the NBA, Adam Silver, had no idea it was taking place because of the current practices that were set to catch those who were fixing games. The NBA would not look enough into the outcome of the games and see if the calls made were fair and justifiable. If you were to look back at some of the games Donaghy refereed  you could see the unbalance of calls for each team (ESPN). Adam Silver was quoted saying, "The Donaghy controversy also made me aware how important it is that we have a way of monitoring irregular activity on our games, but for the FBI knocking on our door and notifying us about Donaghy's betting, none of the systems that we then had in place had captured any betting by Tim Donaghy” (Ma). This had been going on for quite some time before he was eventually caught and plead guilty to his actions. Donaghy had made a good amount of money on top of his NBA referee salary and this is when the real debate started on how to catch these people betting and those who accept the bets. People at this time wanted sports gambling to be banned forever, but if you look at Adam Silver’s statement, someone who supports the legalization of sports gambling, it is all about how the current practice is flawed. 

To go along with the idea that legalizing sports gambling makes games more honorable, Keith Miller of Drake University had his take on it and said, “Legalized sports betting actually promotes integrity of sporting events because licensed sportsbooks have an interest in reporting unusual betting activity to authorities” (Miller). These bookies would report the unusual betting activity because they stand to get in trouble as well if they are caught allowing others to cheat. If the system was fixed with legalization and tough regulations, Donaghy would have either been caught much sooner or would not have tried to fix games at all. Miller and Silver both think that if sports gambling were legal this would not take place because of the strict regulations and enforcements. This is how legal sports gambling can allow sports to become more honorable and almost eradicate the idea of trying to fix a game.

A good portion of people who are involved with sports do not bet, but some are completely against sports betting, let alone the idea of legalizing it; the same still goes for legalizing marijuana as well. There are good reasons to why they think this and technically, because it currently is illegal to place bets on sports, they are winning the argument of whether to legalize or not. A man by the name of David Blankenhorn of Deseret News was asked why he did not want or think that sports gambling should be allowed and he said, “Sports betting is the sterile transfer of money from some people’s pockets into other people’s pockets. Its economic impact is similar to throwing your money on the street so someone else can pick it up — it redistributes wealth without creating it” (Blankenhorn). While Blankehorn does have a point on what betting currently is, throwing money on the street and someone else picking it up, he is wrong because if sports gambling became legalized it would be taxed and regulated. Therefore, when you “throw your money into the street” your state will get a portion of it and be able to fund it back into the economy. This logic only describes the current situation and how he believes the nature of betting will not change. 

Furthermore, those who oppose the idea of legalizing sports betting say that it will create too many gambling addicts. This may be true in a small sense, if it is legal you are free to do it as much as you want, but sometimes the fact that it is illegal is what draws certain people to it. They feel as if they are getting away with it and making money. In an ESPN article by Jeff Ma, he refutes the argument of there will be too many addicts or problem gamblers by saying, “Once sports betting becomes legal the negative stigma behind it will eventually disappear, which will make it a bit easier for problem gamblers to ask for help. Problem gamblers are likely to hide in the dark until it is too late” (Ma). Currently many sports gamblers don’t ask for help because it is illegal and is hard for people to see. They feel if they win one time, they made money no matter how many times they lost previously. The lasting result is the belief that they don’t have a problem if they just made money because how can making money be a bad thing. Sports gambling will take time to come around to some people but once they understand the benefits and how it could help them even if they don’t bet, they will be sure to change their mind. 

When evaluating this argument, it is important to have a neutral source that provides both positives and negatives as well as facts and first hand experiences of people who have bet in both the legal and illegal world of sports gambling. Joe Asher talked regarding how the US going to keep up with the ninety percent of bets that are made offshore stating that, “We have to remain economically competitive with the offshore market, in order for it to go away and, ultimately, that is what happens: People, given the choice, prefer to be in the legal, regulated market” (Purdum). This quote is from an article that is telling the facts without a bias towards either side so we can look at it for what it is and not have to read between the lines. In the quote provided we see that Asher realizes that sports gambling, if legalized, will at first be tough to bring all back into the states, but people want to bet legally. 

In the same article regarding both the pros and cons of legalizing sports betting, Scott Kaminsky, a veteran of the offshore market said, "If they do it the right way and you can bet anywhere inside the U.S., I think they'll maybe convert 35-40 percent of the people off of the offshore back to the states” (Purdum). Most of these people that bet are not true criminals; they are just trying to partake in something that involves their love for sports and trying to predict the outcome. The only main problem the United States will have to face is being able to keep up with all the bets placed in offshore markets, and Kaminsky, knowing both sides to the trade, believes it can be done and eventually everyone will be betting legally in the US. 

With the legalization of sports gambling, each state can bring in a continuous flow of revenue allowing the state to strive and grow. While many states like New York and California with big tourist cities generate a lot of money, there are others like Michigan, and South Carolina who cannot seem to bring in the money they need to help the cities that need it. You may be thinking that Detroit is a major US city with three professional teams and yes, they are, but the city is still bankrupt. Detroit is the poorest city in America (Leduff). The money made from the teams that ends up going to the city is just not enough. South Carolina on the other hand has no professional sports teams, only a handful of colleges that help bring in money and again that isn’t enough. With legalized sports gambling however, people can legally bet in these states and with the tax it will create revenue streams. The Michigan state Rep. Robert Kosowski, who introduced a bill in January that would allow the state's casinos to offer sports betting publicly said, "Legalized gambling in Michigan would create so many revenue streams so we wouldn't have to keep going back to our constituents for tax hikes” (Purdum). By legalizing sports betting, the state of Michigan can start moving their way out of debt with bets that are placed not only the professional teams, but big time colleges like the University of Michigan and Michigan State University.

 On an even bigger scale, legalized sports gambling can create tax streams for the government, which in turn benefit the entire nation. For example, in an article titled, Sports Betting by Country on sportsbetting.org, we see how betting on sports varies in each country. One main point they make is how the government can generate tax revenue from bookmakers and casinos, and because the gambling industry is a multi-billion-dollar industry, there is a lot of tax money available. However, with many online gambling sites based overseas, where there are no local tax laws to abide by and no tax men to pay, the governments don’t get a look in. This means they have to stand back and watch as their tax-heavy casinos empty because more and more people are turning to online casinos created by outside influences (Sports Betting by Country). The online gambling sites overseas exist and thrive due to the illegality of sports betting in America. This article proves to us that we are missing out on the tax benefits of a multibillion dollar industry that could be put into use through things like Medicare, Medicaid, money for veterans, funding to government agencies, the military and it may even lower the current American taxes. By not legalizing sports betting we as a nation are missing out on so much tax money that would only help boost our economy and fund our ever-growing expenses. 

Money for individual states, reduced gambling related crime and sketchy bookies, honoring and respecting the games played more, allowing people to bet legally, and generating revenue streams are among the many reasons why sports gambling should be legalized in the United States. We miss out on so many great opportunities to help improve the nation state by state and then overall as a country, but because some people think that it is not possible or it will create to many gambling addicts we lose all the possible revenue. People thought this would occur in Colorado when legalizing marijuana as well and as we can see none of this has happened. Also, Las Vegas is one of the most popular cities in America bringing in tons of money per year through sports betting and everyone wants to be there. It is time as Americans to stand up and take a stance against this law prohibiting sports betting because we can now understand that sports gambling is and should be the future. 
