Now that the court has lifted those bans, there are expectations that most states will offer sports betting within a few years in a play to raise tax revenue.
Prior to that decision, only four states were allowed to offer sports betting and only Nevada offered betting on single games.
On Monday, the Supreme Court's 6-3 vote struck down a federal law that bars gambling on football, basketball, baseball and other sports in most states, giving states the go-ahead to legalize betting on sports. 'The goal of the operators is to get you into a zone where you lose your financial reasoning and think of nothing except betting.' 'You lose track of time,' said Les Bernal, national director of Stop Predatory Gambling. There's particular alarm over the anticipated explosion of so-called 'in-game wagering' in which gamblers bet, often at a rapid pace, on play-by-play developments - for example, will the next football play be a run or a pass. Much of the apprehension relates to the prospect of myriad forms of online sports betting - accessible to gamblers at any time and location via their mobile phones. For the experts and organizations already concerned about pervasive problem gambling, it promises a whole new roster of worries.
(CBSNewYork/AP) - For sports leagues and gambling industries, the imminent expansion of legalized sports betting promises a bonanza.
