Football fans will place an estimated $93 billion in illegal bets on NFL and college football games this season with Nevada sports books seeing only $2 billion of legal betting action, according to new estimates released by the American Gaming Association (AGA).
That translates to a mountainous 98 percent of all of this season’s sports betting being transacted illegally, and indicates that the 1992 Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act, or “Bradley Act,” banning sports betting in all but four states, Montana, Delaware, Oregon, and Nevada is failing miserably.
Only $100 million of the estimated $3.8 billion wagered on last season’s Super Bowl between the Seattle Seahawks and the New England Patriots was done legally according to the AGA. AGA President and CEO Geoff Freeman said, “Illegal sports betting is reaching new heights of popularity in America,” and that, “It’s clear that a federal ban on traditional sports betting outside of Nevada is failing.”
In an effort to separate the illegal gambling industry from the regulated $240 billion industry, in June the AGA formed the Illegal Gambling Advisory Board. The five-member board is part of the AGA’s, “Stop Illegal Gambling – Play it Safe,” initiative which focuses on illegal sports betting, black market machines, Internet sweepstakes cafes, and illegal online betting, according to the AGA, the four key areas of illegal gambling.