Sports betting is a fast-growing industry, with bettors sometimes called “sharps” who are skilled in making smart wagers. However, a lot of people have questions about the rules and regulations that govern sports betting.

In addition to standard bets like moneyline, spread and totalizators, official betting offers a variety of unique types of bets, including props, which change the odds on a game based on specific events. Props can also be placed on individual players, or combined into a parlay.

Before the Supreme Court overturned federal prohibitions on sports gambling, major sports leagues fought legalization, fearing that it would lead to more attempts at fixing games for betting purposes. Since then, they’ve done a 180 and fully embraced it. ESPN’s David Purdum explains how that changed everything.

The NHL prohibits gambling on its games, but players and those who work for teams and the league are allowed to gamble on other sports, as long as it’s not on NHL games. That includes the WNBA, G-League and NBA2K League. However, those restrictions are only in place if the player or employee is inside their team’s facilities. If they’re in a hotel for a road game, for example, that doesn’t count.

Colorado voters approved legal sports betting in 2019, with the first retail and online sportsbooks going live on May 1 of this year. Arizona voters passed a measure in 2021, and the state launched legal sportsbooks in September of that year.