It's a self-evident truth that sports are deeply embedded in American culture. A passion for sports is present from the earliest stages of family life, throughout school and college and into adulthood. At both state and national level, sporting events spark passion — and the opportunity to make a little money. Yet despite this, sports betting and gambling has had a rocky relationship with American authorities over the past century. In this article, we will look at this history. We will examine how betting has risen from the underground to become a normal part of everyday life. In particular, we will see how the explosion of online culture has affected this transition.

Evolution of US sports gambling
Betting originated in ancient history, but American sports betting as we know it originated in the early 19th century. Gamblers back then were very happy to place a wager on horse racing. This form of betting set the standard for sports betting in general across the USA. The next stage came in February 1876 with the establishment of the National League for baseball. Betting on baseball proved extremely popular, although along with it came bribery and corruption. Players and teams alike got caught throwing games for cash.

Nevertheless, sports betting in general remained very popular. The authorities generally paid it very little mind, despite it being officially illegal. This popularity remained the case in the first decades of the 20th century too. It even weathered the infamous 1919 scandal when eight Chicago White Sox players received bans over throwing the World Series for a gambling syndicate.

Nevada paves the way
The legal limbo sports betting faced in the USA received its first blow in 1931, when Nevada became the first state to legalize gambling and sports betting. This showed a way forward for the industry itself, although Nevada remained the only state to do this for many decades more.

It was not until the 1970s that others began to follow, with Delaware starting a sports lottery in 1976. Montana established lottery sports pools via referendum in 1986 and Oregon created its own variant in 1989.

However, with the Federal ban still in place, Congress began to worry that states were undermining it. In 1992, it responded with the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992 (PASPA).

The rise and fall of PASPA
This legislation outright banned sports betting across the USA, except for the four aforementioned states. PASPA was serious lawmaking and effectively killed off large scale sports betting anywhere except NV, the only state of the four which had genuine single game betting. It took 25 years before the Supreme Court overturned PASPA in May 2018, allowing states to decide their own betting laws.

Within six months of this, seven states had legalized and established sports betting. Nowadays, almost 30 more have either followed suit or are in the process of doing so. Most experts believe that it won't be long now before some 80 per cent of states will offer some form of officially approved sports betting.

Online gambling transforms the sector
Even before the triumph of the internet, the 21st century saw an explosion in sports betting, especially with its extent. Wagers are now available for every possible kind of sport, with the introduction of the point spread in the 1970s leading to the plethora of different betting types that punters can choose from. However, the biggest driver of change by far is the paradigm shift that is online gambling.

In the late 1990s, Nevada faced its first serious competition for sports betting, as dozens of online sportsbooks appeared, seemingly from nowhere. The ease with which bettors could now place a wager, wherever they lived, revolutionized the sector. Online betting soon became the standard way to bet on sports events.
Again, a spooked federal government scrambled to respond. This led to President George W. Bush signing the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) in 2006. This prevents certain payment methods from use in online gambling. However, since it did not make online sports betting itself illegal, nor punish bettors, it wasn't long before online betting sites found their own workarounds.

Crypto and online gambling
Without doubt, one of the most recent workarounds has involved another great change wrought by the internet: cryptocurrency. One of the great selling points of Bitcoin and its many stable mates is their anonymity and decentralization. This makes them ideal for online gambling. Sure enough, more and more gambling sites and online sportsbooks now offer the option to make a crypto bet, or to make all betting transactions in one of the various cryptocurrencies out there. Deposits and withdrawals are also instantaneous, which is a further attraction.

The state of play and future forms
Nowadays, it is unarguable that the sector is here to stay. The reality is that most US states accept and even welcome sports betting and the ease of online betting makes it more accessible than ever. Even where gambling remains completely illegal, punters can still log on to offshore sites, and canny legislatures have noticed this. The logic is that it is better to have a visible sector that can be safely regulated (and taxed!), than leaving citizens to the mercy of pirates operating outside the country.

The online gambling sector, repeatedly shows itself to be highly creative and adaptive to changing conditions. It is contantly innovating with the games available to bet on and the types of betting available. Furthermore, online sportsbooks want to be legal and regulated, since this fosters confidence among customers, who seek online security and safety while gambling.

Nowadays, it is easier than ever to find a gambling site with a good reputation for fair play and good customer care. This is why more and more Americans are choosing to have a flutter on their favourite sporting events. Why not take a look yourself? There are many sites out there dedicated to giving honest appraisals of online sportsbooks, and there are gambling sites suitable for newbies and experienced players alike.

The future of online sports betting cannot be predicted for certain, but it is certainly true that most US states see a rosy partnership with the sector going forward.