West Virginia discusses sports betting

The local Lottery Commission gathered to discuss the possible outcome of the Supreme Court case that will be addressed on December 4.

US.- The state Lottery Commission and casino executives from West Virginia gathered last week to discuss the results of a study conducted by Eilers & Krejcik on how the legalisation of sports betting could impact the state’s activity.

The report from Eilers & Krejcik Gaming, LLC, an entity that tracks state-by-state legislation, revealed that legal sports betting could be offered in 32 states within five years if the United States’ Supreme Court rules in favor of the case presented by New Jersey, which is fighting the PASPA act that only allows a limited number of states to offer the gambling modality. Eilers & Krejcik Gaming, LLC said that a new market could be worth more than US$6 million, and if all 50 states of the American country legalise sports betting, the industry could be worth from US$7.1 to US$15.8 billion.

Lottery Director Alan Larrick said that the meeting was educational: “If it becomes available, I want us to have enough information to make an informed decision.” The state had previously showed its support to New Jersey regarding the amendment of the Professional Act because it believes that each state should have the right to decide whether they want to offer sports betting or not.

“Other states are taking a ‘wait and see’ approach. It could be a significant head-start if West Virginia moves quickly enough. It could give us at least a year, a year-and-a-half head-start to build up a data base of players,” added Larrick. “That’s the reason for this work session — to educate ourselves, the staff and the commission about what we would want in a workable proposal. The time to work on that is obviously now.”