How to Gamble on Sports Legally

Until recently, you could only gamble on sports if you took a bus to Atlantic City or got in your car and drove to Las Vegas. The Supreme Court’s ruling on PASPA in 2018 changed that and opened up the floodgates for legal sports betting across the United States.

Now you can bet on anything from who will win the game to whether there will be a fight at halftime. You can even bet on things that aren’t actually going to happen, like the number of rebounds a team will get in a given period.

If you’re going to wager on sports, you should do your research and bet smartly. Betting with your heart is fine but you should be able to separate yourself emotionally and make a smart decision based on statistics and math. This is why it’s important to know the laws in your area and to only place bets you can afford to lose.

It’s also important to understand how sportsbooks work. Sportsbooks take a small percentage of each bet, known as the juice or vig. They do this because they expect you to bet on teams that are favored, so they’ll win the most bets and cover their expenses.

It’s also important to remember that professional sports leagues are trying to profit off of the new world of legal sports betting by selling their official data to sportsbooks. This is why you’ve seen NBA deals with MGM and FanDuel and MLB deals with William Hill.