The US gambling industry has seen many changes in recent years. Being able to bet on the Portland Trail Blazers or Portland Timbers in the MLS can be great fun. Thankfully, it is now legal to legally place sporting wagers in Oregon and more could be on its way.
Between 1989 and 2007 there was the opportunity to be checking the odds and placing sporting bets. Then it all went wrong as this stopped due to problems with the NCAA. Legalized sports gambling and hosting their basketball tournament in the state wasn’t compatible, so it was farewell to the betting.
With so much sport taking place in the US, you’d imagine that being able to gamble on who’d win events such as the NBA finals, World Series or Super Bowl wouldn’t be a problem. It was though with sports worried that legalized betting would hurt their integrity. That’s the same sports who now have sponsorship deals with leading betting companies, how times change!
Previously it had been the Federal Government who decided on the legalization of gambling. There was a long campaign to change the situation. It’s hardly that Americans weren’t betting, they simply created offshore accounts even though there was no protection if anything went wrong.
A US Supreme Court Judge ruling in 2018 changed all that. Now it was up to the states themselves to take the decision. Many have since been busy legalizing gambling, particularly on sport and online, though there are plenty that have still to make the necessary changes due to fears over the possibility of people becoming addicted to gambling. Always gamble responsibly is the simple piece of advice that can be given.
2019 saw Oregon residents being given the chance to again be able to legally place sporting bets. Whether it was on touchdowns, field goals or who’d win the MLS, it was all now possible. Have a nice day never sounds so good as it does after you’ve been paid out after a good win.
It’s good news for the state too with all that tax revenue from gambling heading in their direction. That’s already been the case with other forms of gambling with the Oregon Lottery Commission contributing over $700 million to the state three years ago.
If you want to bet on sport, then the Oregon Lottery Scoreboard app and website is where most the action takes place. The site and app are packed with betting opportunities, not just from the US but all over the world. If you want to place a bet on a European basketball match as well as the NBA play-offs, then that’s easily achieved.
You can even bet on that confusing sport they call cricket as well as soccer, MMA and lots more. There’s also the Chinook Winds Casino Resort in Lincoln City. This is owned by the Siletz Tribe and took its first sports bet in August 2019. That gives you the chance to check out all the odds on the top matches. There’s no tribal casino that close to Portland though, so the online betting site is even more appreciated by those in Oregon’s largest city.
It’s great to be able to bet on sport in Oregon but other states such as Illinois are a little bit ahead in the game. Illinois legalized sports betting in June 2019, but it wasn’t until March of the following year that a legal sports bet was finally placed at Rivers Casino. The days of creating offshore accounts were over.
There is a lot more on offer in Illinois and several other states. Illinois doesn’t have just the one site and tribal casinos. There are far more avenues available with top gambling companies such as FanDuel, William Hill (now owned by Caesar Entertainment), Betrivers and recently Barstool offering online sports betting with more on the way.
That’s a pattern that has been followed in other parts of the US. Perhaps in time Oregon will go down the same route. Betting is big business; people are forever searching for the latest odds on the next big sporting event (especially with the NFL season just around the corner) or looking to get big wins in the casino. At least we have sports betting in the state of Oregon, many states in the US are still waiting for that big moment when they can legally place a bet on the top sporting events.
