Tuesday, May 14 marks the one-year anniversary of the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn PASPA. SportTechie is running multiple articles this week, looking at the current and future implications of that ruling.
A year ago tomorrow, the Supreme Court of the United States struck down the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act, and opened a path to the legalization of sports betting across the U.S. It was a momentous decision, one which has already led to new laws passed half a dozen states—with many more in consideration—and hundreds of millions of dollars wagered.
But for someone who grew up outside this country, this regime change has felt more like a revolution in a coffee cup—tea doesn’t hold the hot drink monopoly here. Bookmakers were as ever present on the streets of the Great Britain of my childhood as fish-and-chip shops, and most of what people gambled money on was sports. There were obviously rules against minors participating in sports betting, but every year, my family, and many other people across the country, would throw down money on the Grand National horse race. I even won once, picking 16-1 Mr. Frisk to win in 1990.
I’ve now lived in the U.S. long enough to realize the significance of the SCOTUS ruling, but with a foreign perspective, it also feels a little like when I got my first smartphone. That was back in 2013, and I was a long way behind the curve. For me, it was exciting and more than a little disorienting. For everyone else, I feel my communications metamorphosis was a little anti-climactic.
The rapid legalization of sports betting here over the last 12 months has resulted in its own technological revolution. Daily fantasy brands have pivoted to become bookmakers, fans in states that have already legalized sports betting can now place bets direct from their seats—in stadiums or at home—through betting apps, and broadcasts have begun to integrate betting feeds. But most of those changes have so far really just been a re-hashing of innovations that have long existed elsewhere. Fantasy sports never felt like they really caught on in the U.K. in the same way they did in the U.S. because you could already wager real money. For at least a decade, you’ve been able to make meaningless games more interesting by throwing down small bets on minor game outcomes with a tap of your smartphone screen.
However, the U.S. has a habit of doing things bigger, and flashier, than anywhere else. By viewership, soccer’s World Cup final outweighs the Super Bowl. The Russia 2018 final attracted more than 130 million, whereas Super Bowl LII pulled in 98 million. (For reference, the Canada 2015 women’s final hit a 60 million record.) And the World Cup holds geopolitical consequences that the Super Bowl can’t come close to. In 1969, for example, a World Cup qualifier triggered a war between Honduras and El Salvador.
But no one seems to have told Americans this. By TV presence, by spectacle, the Super Bowl feels like the pinnacle of global sport. Its winners, like those in the NBA, the NHL, and MLS, presumptively crowned “world champions” in spite of the NFL being a purely domestic tournament.
The U.S. sports industry is also worth north of $70 billion. And the U.S. is home to Silicon Valley, plus a host of regional imitators—Silicon Alley, Silicon Forest, Silicon Hills, and Silicon Slopes, to name just a few. Money, sports, innovation, and now sports betting are intersecting here in a way they don’t elsewhere.
Consider this last year as a preview, a catchup. Next year, and those that swiftly follow, is where the real sports betting innovation action will be. American sports betting—and American sports betting tech—is just getting started.