The biggest sports betting market in the United States by far is football. The history of NFL betting is long and interesting. In fact, it’s a big part of the sports industry in the US on its own. As massive as the NFL sports betting market is nowadays, it has very humble origins that many sports betting fans may still not be aware of.
The Origins of NFL Sports Betting Markets
The National Football League was founded in the year 1920, quickly acquiring its new and current name in 1922 – and it didn’t take very long to begin gambling on this sport. The problem that ended up complicating the history of NFL gambling was that these original betting markets were actually illegal and unregulated.
The betting markets were a black market of sorts. They were conducted underground, though ultimately urban, areas. At some point, once more people started realising how lucrative NFL sports betting could be, organised gangsters started to partake – which made NFL betting more popular, but also helped to tarnish its reputation.
Years went by, and NFL sports betting continued to occur via illegal operations. During the 1940s, several sports-betting scandals occurred that pressured the government to start enforcing various regulations on sportsbooks and sports betting.
Back then, sports books were literally books, not the modern high-tech apps we have today. These days, if you want to find Ravens player prop bets to watch, for example, you can find them in seconds with the right website. However, back then, things weren’t so convenient. With the new age of the internet it is also much easier to track things like any given players performance throughout a match.
1950’s Laws and 1960’s Nevada
It shouldn’t come as a surprise to gambling fans that it was the state of Nevada, home of Las Vegas, that eventually stepped in to salvage the world of underground sports betting. They came at a time when there was much turmoil during the NFL sports betting scene.
This is because the decade of the 1960s saw many laws put into effect to place major restrictions on sports betting in general. Four of the biggest gambling laws that affected the entire sports betting market of the country, including NFL betting, were:
- the Travel Act of 1952
- the Federal Wire Act of 1961
- the Sports Bribery Act of 1964
- the Illegal Gambling and Business Act of 1970.
These four laws, among other things, were designed to combat racketeering groups, bribery within gambling, and other similar means. And for a time, they were quite successful at putting a major stop to all sorts of activities associated with the NFL.
But then in 1974, things started to change, thanks to Nevada. The state’s senator, Howard Cannon, negotiated a deal with Congress to heavily reduce the tax that had been placed on sports betting, which was considered legal. But, this only applied to the state of Nevada, not the country as a whole.
Soon after this new deal went into action, Nevada was swimming in highly lucrative gambling businesses, especially related to sports betting. Two years later, an official establishment was built dedicated to horseback racing and sports gambling. It was called the Stardust and it plays a major role in the hit Martin Scorsese film “Casino”.
Later that same year, New Jersey state legalised casinos to operate in Atlantic City, another place historically known for its vibrant gambling culture and history just like Las Vegas. Within a couple of years, it too would legally open up its own major sportsbook, one that dealt heavily with NFL betting markets.
The Global Spread and Acceptance of NFL Sports Betting Markets
Now that the United States had opened up to and legalised most forms of NFL betting, more people could do it freely out in the open. This meant a gradual – but massive – increase in the number of people who would place bets on various NFL matches, especially the Super Bowl.
NFL sports betting caught on not only in the United States, but the United Kingdom as well. A few corporate gambling laws passed in the early 1990s by Congress made it easier for British bookkeepers to capitalise on growing trends.
This was roughly around the time when specific sports betting types were developed, which are still in use and very popular to this day – such as spreads, money lines, and totals.
The Dawn of Internet Gambling
As big as a revolution as these bet types were for the most diehard NFL betting market fans, it’s unlikely that anything prepared them for what was heading their way just around the corner: online sportsbooks and gambling.
This helped turn an international gambling market into a truly global one. It was no longer just the United States and the United Kingdom that were getting in on most of the action. Corporations and organisations from all over the planet were making great headway in the NFL betting markets.
Places in South America, the Caribbean, Asia, and continental Europe have all started launching their own sites and apps, including online casinos and dedicated NFL sports books. This has given American citizens many opportunities to expose themselves to global markets, choosing odds that they felt were more beneficial than at home.
The year of 2006 brought yet another law imposing restrictions on American gamblers, however. This was the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, which outlawed various forms of gambling games that were not considered to be associated with skill or Native American tribal culture.
Fortunately, this law didn’t last forever. In 2018, a federal decision was imposed by the Supreme Court to remove all federal bans on sports betting. Instead, all 50 states were allowed to decide for themselves if online gambling and sports betting would be permitted.
As of this moment, 38 states have technically legalised the betting markets relevant to the NFL. The bad news is that many NFL sports betting fans live in the other 12 states – but the good news is that it took time to reach that number. This means that many other states eventually signed on, which heavily suggests that over time even more will decide to join the majority.
Today, there are more online sports books with many ways to engage in NFL betting than ever. The pastime is more popular than it has ever been, more financially lucrative, and more publicly and socially acceptable than ever before. Many people credit this gradual acceptance to the dawn and preeminence of online gambling, and it’s hard to argue with that logic.
Closing Thoughts
NFL betting has transformed from illegal backroom operations run by gangsters into a mainstream digital industry accessible on smartphones nationwide. The journey spans a century – today’s easy-access global betting markets would be unrecognisable to early bettors.
As betting continues to merge with mainstream sports culture, how might this affect the NFL’s traditional audience and the way fans experience the game?
