The legalization of sports gambling around the United States will ultimately be a major boon for the states that decide to go through with it.
This was made possible by the United States Supreme Court and its decision to leave sports gambling up to individual states in a May 2018 ruling.
Iowa will now become the 11th state to legalize sports betting on Thursday when a number of physical and online sportsbooks launch. And it’s going to be a financial boon for the state moving forward.
“Once the Iowa market reaches maturity, its potential is on par with what Nevada is today,” Dustin Gouker, lead analyst for PlayIA.com said in a statement to Sportsnaut. “That means a handle that will exceed $4 billion a year, and perhaps approach $5 billion. And as we have seen with the success of the early adopters of legal sports betting, such as New Jersey, the state should reap millions in tax revenue.”
Even if it’s going to take a few years to come to fruition, $300 million per year in revenue would be a boon. In turn, that would create about $20 million in tax revenue for the state of Iowa
It’s just the latest example of states taking advantage of the SCOTUS ruling.
For Iowa, where bets are placed will be much different than other states that have legalized sports gambling.
In-state, it will probably start and end with Iowa Hawkeyes football. There’s no professional sports team in the state. Iowa football, and to a lesser extent Iowa State, remain the most-popular sports entities in the state.
This could lead to renewed interest in the college football product starting this coming season. In turn, that would lead to larger revenue for both school’s CFB programs.
It really is a trickle-down effect. The more states that decide to legalize gambling, the higher amount of interest we’ll see in sports. Iowa is the latest state to realize this.