Sports betting is more popular than ever, with most US states now offering regulated sportsbooks. But, just a few years ago, many sports leagues were still fighting legalized gambling. Now, they have done a 180-degree turn, embracing sports betting and partnering with betting companies in the process. David Purdum of ESPN joined us to talk about how this shift happened and the implications it has for sports and wagering.

PURDUM: When the Supreme Court decided to overturn the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act, a lot of states began to introduce legislation to open up sports betting. Massachusetts lawmakers were among them, and we now have eight online sportsbooks available to bet at Fenway Park, TD Garden and Gillette Stadium. The sportsbooks are DraftKings, FanDuel, WynnBET, Betr, Caesars, BetMGM and Fanatics.

As part of its licensing agreement, each of these sites must have “21 and over” language displayed on their homepage. There’s also a requirement that the sportsbooks must display the state where they are licensed to accept bets. But, there are some offshore websites that claim to be licensed in the United States but don’t. These unlicensed sites are risky to place bets with. They may not pay out winning bets or close down without returning customer funds.

All MLB employees must be screened for criminal charges and convictions that could impact their ability to perform their job duties. If any of these occur, the employee could be banned from the game. The league works with regulators, sportsbooks and independent integrity monitors to ensure its rules are followed.