There are some pretty surprising takeaways from the 2025 rankings of U.S. regulated states’ betting handles . The shift in focus from Vegas and Jersey to a handful of dark horse has been swift and – I dare say – deeply satisfying. But as they say about Elvis, the spangled-jumpsuit king of Vegas himself, “the king is dead.” Full stop. Today, New York is the country’s betting colossus. Illinois is … Read more
The Diana Stakes is scheduled for July 18 at Saratoga, nine furlongs on the inner turf for older fillies and mares, with Grade 1 status and a $500,000 purse. From another angle, the Diana has become Chad Brown’s private summer lawn party, crashed by a whole lot of party people hoping somebody forgot to lock the liquor cabinet. Brown has won the race ten times, including every running from 2022 … Read more
…But Far Less Than Many Expected June 22, 2026 When the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the federal ban on sports betting in 2018, many industry observers predicted that offshore sportsbooks would soon become relics of a bygone era. Nearly a decade later, that prediction has been disproven. Established offshore operators such as Bovada, BetOnline, MyBookie, Bookmaker have undoubtedly lost customers as legal sportsbooks have spread across the United States. … Read more
In Nashville this summer, regulators signaled a shift in how U.S. states confront offshore sportsbooks that operate outside licensed markets but continue to court American bettors. The Tennessee Sports Wagering Council (SWC) announced it had levied $250,000 in fines against five offshore sportsbooks — including BetOnline, BetAnySports, Bookmaker, Everygame, and JazzSports — for accepting bets from Tennessee residents without authorization under state law. On the surface, half-a-million dollars in penalties … Read more
The story goes that when Bodog founder Calvin Ayre was picking a name for the sportsbook to replace the old name, he chose Bovada.lv, because it was short, recognizable, didn’t mean anything in particular, and sounded kinda cool. Ironically, while all those things are true, and while it’s one of the greatest offshore sportsbooks in history, it remains true to this day that a large majority of online gamblers, especially … Read more
This NFL season has been a sh**tshow for the US sportsbooks, driven by a mix of unpredictable outcomes, bettor behavior, and market dynamics that together have made the books sweat a lot more than usual. One of the biggest factors has been the frequency of upsets and erratic game results. In typical seasons, favorites win often enough that sportsbooks can balance books reasonably well, but this year underdogs and unexpected … Read more
As legal sports betting has grown across the U.S., federal authorities have increasingly turned their attention to the risks faced by everyday bettors — especially when it comes to unregulated or offshore sportsbooks. In a recent advisory, the Internal Revenue Service cautioned sports enthusiasts to prefer licensed, regulated sportsbooks over offshore or unregulated platforms, citing heightened risks of fraud, while also reminding bettors of their obligation to pay tax on … Read more
The Wisconsin Legislature is fast-tracking a bipartisan bill to legalize online sports betting using a “hub-and-spoke” model tied to tribal gaming operations. If passed, online/mobile betting could come to Wisconsin, narrowing the gap between regulated and unregulated wagers in the state It took only two weeks for Wisconsin’s new online sports-betting bill to go from committee whisper to full-blown legislative sprint. Introduced quietly in late October, the measure is now … Read more
The state of Missouri is moving toward its online sports-betting launch—scheduled for December 1, 2025—with licensed apps and regulatory frameworks being finalized now. This means bettors in Missouri will shortly have access to regulated sports-betting apps via mobile, which is a significant expansion of U.S. legal betting. Legalization Paves the Way For Missourians When the first legal bet goes live in Missouri on December 1, 2025, it won’t just mark … Read more
Major League Baseball has scrambled to restore confidence after a shocking federal indictment alleged that two Cleveland Guardians pitchers, Luis Ortiz and Emmanuel Clase, conspired to rig bets on individual pitches. On the heels of those charges, the league and its authorized sportsbook partners announced a sweeping new restriction: all pitch-specific proposition bets—known as “micro-bets”—will now be capped at $200 and banned from being included in parlays. The Department of … Read more