The industry had a lot to cheer and a lot to jeer when Pennsylvania passed its 2017 gaming expansion law. The massive piece of legislation brought online poker, online casino, retail and online sports betting, online lottery, mini-casinos, and more to the Keystone State.
Coronavirus has altered or effectively halted nearly every industry in all corners of the world. Legal gaming has been especially devastated. As casino floors and hotel rooms sit vacant, Americans have shifted their attention to online casinos and poker rooms in the handful of states with regulated options.
South Dakota lawmakers passed a sports betting ballot measure early last month. For now, it appears the coronavirus outbreak won’t stop South Dakotans from seeing that referendum on their 2020 ballots.
GameCo LLC is intent on dragging the gaming industry into the 21st century. The creator of the world’s first Video Game Gambling Machine (VGM™) recently announced a new partnership with GRID, an innovative esports data platform.
Kentucky gambling expansion will have to wait even longer after lawmakers passed an abridged budget for the upcoming fiscal year in response to the coronavirus outbreak.
At the beginning of the month, Washington D.C. sports betting was set to begin in time for the Washington Nationals’ March 26 season opener. Now a week after what was supposed to be the season’s first pitch, Major League Baseball has yet to begin its season and the city’s sports betting app is still sidelined.
Global event cancelations due to the coronavirus outbreak have eliminated nearly every betting option for sportsbooks. In states with in-person registration requirements, those restrictions mean new bettors have virtually no options for legal betting.
Legalizing commercial casinos in Nebraska was an uphill climb even before the COVID-19 outbreak. Casino backers said as recently as this week they will still push for three gaming referendums on the 2020 ballot, but it remains a difficult challenge to collect enough signature to do so ahead of a July 2 deadline.
The coronavirus outbreak has impacted nearly every social interaction across the world, shuttering nearly every professional sports league and crippling the fledgling U.S. sports betting market less than two years after it was allowed to grow nationwide.
Washington sports betting will soon be legal, but it will be with one of the most limited reaches of any of the two-dozen states already accepting wagers or set to do so.
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