The 2023 legislative session ended with a sports betting bill in Missouri stalled just one vote short of passage. The state’s tribal ties and gaming aversions have made it difficult to pass a bill, but a ballot measure is a possibility in November.
A new law in Maryland requires sportsbooks to use official data for Tier 2 wagers, but that’s a far cry from the blanket lockdown demanded by league lobbyists. Moreover, official data isn’t necessarily superior to unofficial data, as evidenced by Nevada’s regulated market. Lastly, the price tag for official data isn’t what many would call commercially reasonable. Sources close to distributor Sportradar say the leagues are asking for 0.25% of all wagered money on their products.
The National Hockey League has yet to take a public position on sports betting, but the Vegas Golden Knights’ sponsorship with William Hill and MGM Resorts International includes betting partnerships. The league has also signed betting partnership deals with FanDuel and DraftKings, and the NHL Players’ Association could make a push for sports betting.
The NBA and NFL have both declared positions on sports gambling, but it’s too early to know how they will play out. The NFL is a particularly tricky case, as its union is pushing for player-friendly rules and the NFLPA’s executive committee will consider those proposals in June. Meanwhile, the NBA is taking a cautious approach, but it’s not adamantly opposed to legalization. All that said, a number of factors make it likely that the NFL will be the first major US professional sports league to introduce legal betting.