Supreme Court Decision on Sports Betting Will Hurt Vegas, Right? You’ll Be Surprised
Photo Credit: The U.S. Supreme Court paved the way this week for more states to legalize sports betting. Pictured is a sports book at the Paradise Buffet at the Fremont Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas. Flickr / katesheets
Skift Take
What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas — except now sports betting, as other states look to swoop in and take their share of the multibillion market. But guess what? Vegas will survive.
Many U.S. casinos and gambling advocates are praising the United States Supreme Court's decision on Monday to strike down a decades-old law that banned sports betting outside of Nevada. Since other states might now offer sports betting, it raised question about how much of a hit Nevada tourism, specifically Las Vegas, might take.
But sports betting is still a marginal business compared to overall gambling revenue in Nevada, the only U.S. state with an established market for the activity.
Some $4.9 billion, an all-time record high, was bet on sports in 2017 in Nevada destinations such as Las Vegas, home to the iconic Las Vegas Strip casinos.
