We are seeing more US states legalise gambling in 2020, and right now the current figure stands at 17. With many more working towards the legislation required to jump on board, it is only a matter of time before we hit the magic number of 26, which means more states offer legal betting than those that don’t.
We have already seen the early states see a positive effect from legalising gambling, both in terms of their economy and the number of jobs it creates. A federal level legalisation of gambling would bring those benefits to the entire country, something that we have seen in these early states, as well as something that has happened for many years in the UK, where gambling has been legalised for 60 years, and sports betting has existed for 59 years.
What Positives Will the US Economy See?
There are many areas where the US has already seen a boost, something that would really benefit the country as a whole if they were part of a nationwide gambling legalisation program.
If you look at what the gaming industry brings to the US economy, you can see how much the online gambling industry and sports betting would bring, from traditional events to new ones such as the growing eSports industry.
$261 billion goes straight into the US economy from gaming, which is a huge sum of money. A similar amount from online gambling and sports betting would be able to provide a huge boost and open up many doors for a variety of new ideas to be funded.
There is a total of $40.8 billion paid in tax revenues, to federal, state and local governments. This allows a variety of projects to be funded, with a similar amount from online gambling, more new ideas would be able to receive funding.
Jobs are another vital part of this, there are 1.8 million jobs across the country in the gaming industry, while online gambling and sports betting would create a similar amount of jobs across the USA.
Giving more people the chance to be in employment is key here, but so is the amount of money generated and put into the economy via the wages of these jobs. The 1.8 million employed in the gaming industry total a combined $74 billion worth of income.
The Positive Effect of Gambling in the UK
Gambling has taken place for many years in the UK, the industry is firmly established. The benefits of gambling in the UK have been seen for many years too, including those above from the US gaming industry such as the jobs the industry creates, money into the economy and the funding of projects with taxes that are paid.
Many people gamble in the UK, and this is down to the excellent and diverse service that is on offer, something the US will have to build up. newbettingsites.uk compares new betting sites in the UK, and the volume of sites available shows just how strong the UK betting industry really is.
It is no surprise to see bookmakers targeting the UK though, when you see how many people in the country gamble. 45% of British consumers gamble, totalling a gross gambling yield of £14.4 billion in the tax year April 18 until March 19.
There are just over 102,000 people employed in the gambling industry, each getting a wage from their employer which they then put back into the economy.
There are also a number of good causes that benefit from gambling, and this shouldn’t be forgotten. Between April 2018 and March 2018 a total of £1.5 billion was given to good causes from the National Lottery, with a further £332 million given from large society lotteries. This funding would not be around if it wasn’t for gambling via lotteries.
Part of the money that comes from gambling is also used to setup infrastructure around problem gambling, to help those who need it. This is something that the USA doesn’t have in place on a large scale, but something that is needed if gambling is to grow over there.
The creation of the UK Gambling Commission as well as many charitable organisations to help those with gambling problems has been huge in the UK. If bookmakers are going to be allowed into the US on a big scale, they need to have something like this set up to help anyone who gets into trouble.
Following the UK model would be ideal here, and the money would certainly be there from the profits made by gambling companies to pay for it.
___________________________________________________________
Interesting related article: “What is Betting?“