After losing a legal battle against sports betting, the NFL turned around and started embracing it – partnering with sportsbooks and allowing odds and lines to be infused into media coverage. It’s one of many massive shifts that have been happening in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision on sports gambling.
New Jersey, which brought the case to the Supreme Court, has quickly established itself as the “Gold Standard” for sports betting. The state is home to 21 online sportsbooks, with room for more, and it’s also welcoming operators that have taken a different approach, such as Prophet. New Jersey set an online sportsbook handle record in every month of 2021 and led the country in all three major types of sports betting.
Across the country, states are opening up their sportsbooks. Some have had hiccups and are still working out kinks. Others, like Massachusetts, which launched in the wee hours of Jan. 31, have been a roaring success, despite the fact that bets on in-state colleges are prohibited.
Some have raised concerns about the commercially reasonable cost of official data – what’s known as live event data from the leagues – which is being charged for through distributor Sportradar. But, judging by the experience of Nevada’s regulated market, which has run without official data for decades, robust live event data can grade in-play wagers just as well as unofficial data.