WASHINGTON, D.C. –  The American Gaming Association (AGA) Tuesday held its first ever State Stakeholders Summit, convening industry experts and invested stakeholders to drive the evolving national debate on expanding legalized, regulated sports betting. Held at the Hall of States, the event focused on potential policy solutions for state and federal legislatures and regulatory bodies. Drawing upon critical guidance from gaming regulators and AGA policy principles, stakeholders discussed the need for sound policy that would enhance law enforcement resources and drive customers to a legal, regulated market.

Within the next 70 days, the U.S. Supreme Court will issue a ruling on Murphy v. NCAA, the state of New Jersey’s challenge to the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA). The 1992 law, which largely outlawed sports betting outside of Nevada, has failed to offer sport or consumer protection. Rather, PASPA restricts state and federal economic benefits, exhausts law enforcement resources and perpetuates a thriving illegal sports betting market in the United States that AGA estimates to be in excess of $150 billion annually. Event participants included those who joined AGA in filing amicus briefs with the Supreme Court in support of New Jersey.

“This meeting was an opportunity to continue our longstanding dialogue about shutting down the illegal sports betting market with some of the most important stakeholders in the debate,” said AGA Senior Vice President of Public Affairs Sara Slane. “States are anticipating and are preparing to offer legal, regulated sports betting in a way that meets the needs of their constituents. The organizations represented are central to advancing effective and sensible sports betting laws and regulations, and enacting and enforcing these new rules.”

Participants included members of AGA’s Sports Betting Task Force, former and current gaming regulators, and representatives from the National Governors Association, Conference of Western Attorneys General, National Conference of State Legislatures, American Legislative Exchange Council, Fraternal Order of Police, Major County Sheriffs of America, National Association of Counties and the Council of State Chambers, among others.

The Stakeholder Summit preceded a meeting of AGA’s Public Policy Committee, which convenes biannually to discuss industry policy priorities and activities.

AGA will issue an after-action report outlining lessons learned from the Summit, and next steps for advancing sound sports betting policy that shuts down the illegal market.

About AGA: The American Gaming Association is the premier national trade group representing the $240 billion U.S. casino industry, which supports 1.7 million jobs in 40 states. AGA members include commercial and tribal casino operators, suppliers and other entities affiliated with the gaming industry. It is the mission of the AGA to achieve sound policies and regulations consistent with casino gaming’s modern appeal and vast economic contributions.

An overwhelming majority of Americans support the Supreme Court’s ruling that struck down the sports betting ban, according to a national survey of registered voters. They are also strongly in favor of legalizing sports betting in their state, according to a national survey of registered voters.

Key findings from the survey include:

• Nearly 8 in 10 Americans support legalizing sports betting in their state.
• 63% of Americans support the Supreme Court’s ruling that struck down the sports betting ban.
• 2 in 3 people believe sports betting is best regulated by states and sovereign tribal governments.
• The majority of people oppose the idea leagues getting a cut of wagers on sports, with less than 1 in 4 being in favor.

Methodology:

The survey of Americans’ attitudes towards gaming was conducted on behalf of the American Gaming Association by the Mellman Group in September, 2018 among a national sample of 1,000 registered voters. The interviews were conducted both online and on the phone and the margin of error is +/- 2.9%.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Washington Football Team has joined the American Gaming Association’s (AGA) Have A Game Plan.^® Bet Responsibly.™ public service campaign, making it the first National Football League (NFL) team to partner with the AGA to promote responsible sports betting.

The Washington Football Team will connect Have A Game Plan in-stadium activations, sponsored content on washingtonfootball.com, and campaign promotion on the team’s upcoming preseason radio and television broadcasts.

“With legal sports betting now permitted across our region, we are ensuring responsible gaming serves as a foundation for how we engage in this exciting commercial market,” said Washington Football Team’s Chief Partnership Officer Scott Shepherd. “We’re not only proud to partner with the AGA, the architect of Have A Game Plan, but also proud to lead by educating fans as they enjoy football in an engaging, new way.”

“Getting sports betting right is a shared responsibility for everyone involved,” said AGA Senior Vice President Casey Clark. “The Washington Football Team’s partnership demonstrates their leadership and commitment to making responsibility core to their sports betting strategy. Today’s announcement puts Have A Game Plan in front of more fans and is a step further in building a responsible, sustainable legal market.”

The season-long campaign will launch during the team’s first home preseason game on August 20 versus the Cincinnati Bengals. The Washington Football Team’s preseason radio and television broadcasts will include 20-second spots encouraging fans to bet responsibly and directing fans to AGA’s Have a Game Plan website for resources and other information.

Sports betting is now legal and live in 22 states and the District of Columbia. During the NFL season, six additional states are expected to launch. The NFL has a long-standing partnership with the National Council on Problem Gambling.

The AGA launched Have a Game Plan in late 2019 to educate sports fans on the principles of responsible sports betting. As the first NFL team to join the campaign, the Washington Football Team joins official campaign partners DraftKings, FanDuel, Monumental Sports and Entertainment, NASCAR, NHL, PGA TOUR, Sightline Payments, Sinclair Broadcast Group, Vegas Golden Knights, and UFC.

About the Washington Football Team
Headquartered at Inova Sports Performance Center in Ashburn, Virginia, and owned by Dan and Tanya Snyder since 1999, the historic Washington Football Team has won five World Championship titles including the 1937 and 1942 National Football League Championship games, as well as Super Bowls XVII, XXII and XXVI. Founded in 1932 in Boston, Massachusetts, the team relocated to Washington, D.C. in 1937. Since then, the Washington Football Team has become one of the most recognizable professional sports franchises in history, featuring multiple Hall of Fame coaches, 19 members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, and one recipient of the Walter Payton Man of The Year Award, Darrell Green. Since 1997, the Team has played their home games at FedExField, a multi-purpose stadium located in Landover, MD.

This exclusive, invitation-only event will bring together executives in the sports betting ecosystem to address the interdependent and intertwined interests of everyone vested in the expansion of legalized, regulated sports betting in the U.S. Participants will include gaming operators, suppliers, sports leagues, teams, regulators, broadcasters, financial institutions and sports agencies who will come together for a 1.5-day conversation to drive sports betting market viability. A range of top-notch speakers from across the sports betting landscape will lead sessions on topics from the convergence of sports and sports betting to in-play technological innovations to insights into the sports betting consumer and the future of payments.

Legalizing sports betting won’t just bring the law in line with American attitudes and desires – it will also deliver powerful economic benefits, possibly generating $8 billion in local taxes, creating hundreds of thousands of jobs, and adding $22.4 billion to the gross domestic product, according to new a comprehensive study on the economic impact of a legalized U.S. sports betting market.

Using a Convenient Availability-Base Tax Rate Scenario, key takeaways include:

• Total economic output, representing sales of businesses in the US, is expected to be $41.2 billion.
• Legal sports betting operations, including wages, salaries, benefits and tips, are expected to support $11.0 billion of total labor income.
• Total jobs supported, both direct, indirect and induced, is expected to be 216,671.
• Legal sports betting is expected to contribute $22.4 billion to US gross domestic product.
• Fiscal impacts, consisting of state, local and federal tax impacts, are expected to total $8.4 billion.

Methodology

The research was conducted on behalf of the American Gaming Association by Oxford Economics. The analysis is based on available data, interviews with industry participants, customized economic impact models and the professional judgment of Oxford Economics. National findings are based on the assumption that sports betting would be offered in the 40 states that had casino gaming available as of 2016.

This January, for the first time ever, wagers in new legal sports betting markets exceeded the amount of wagers placed in Nevada. Increased access to legal, regulated sports betting resulted in 50.2 percent of all legal wagers – $503.1 million – being placed in the states that have legalized sports betting since the Supreme Court overturned the federal ban on that activity in May 2018.

“For the first time in the history of U.S. gaming, Nevada’s sports betting handle has been eclipsed by the rest of the country,” said Sara Slane, AGA’s senior vice president of public affairs. “The demand for legal sports betting is abundantly clear, with the majority of legal wagers now being placed in markets that didn’t even exist a year ago. What’s more, this strong consumer appetite for legal sports betting is matched by action from state legislatures and sovereign tribal nations. Two thirds of jurisdictions have now taken steps to legalize sports betting, marking an unprecedented amount of growth for this new sector in just ten months.”

The state-by-state handles for January 2019 are as follows:

• Nevada: $497.5 million
• New Jersey: $385.3 million
• Mississippi: $35.2 million
• Pennsylvania: $32.0 million
• Rhode Island: $19.1 million
• West Virginia: $17.8 million
• Delaware: $11.9 million
• Total: $998.8 million

WASHINGTON – American Gaming Association (AGA) President and CEO Bill Miller released the following statement on bipartisan legislation introduced today by Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) and Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS) that would repeal the federal sports betting excise tax on legal operators:

“The federal sports betting excise tax was enacted more than 70 years ago as a tool to prosecute illegal sports betting operators. Today, with sports betting legal in 38 states and Washington, D.C., this antiquated tax puts legal operators at a competitive disadvantage and rewards illegal offshore bookmakers that pay no federal or state taxes, offer no responsible gaming tools, and have no systems in place to prevent underage customers from using their platforms.

The AGA is grateful to Senators Cortez Masto and Hyde-Smith for their commitment to providing a safe, responsible sports betting market and to continuing to help migrate bettors out of the illegal market, which is bereft of consumer protections and a haven for bad actors and tax evaders. The AGA will continue to work with policymakers to enact legislation to address this harmful tax.”

Background

• The Internal Revenue Code currently imposes a federal excise tax of 0.25% on the amount of any legal sports wager, as well as an additional $50 annual head tax for every employee engaged in receiving wagers for or on behalf of any legal sports betting operator. This tax is applied to the amount wagered and not the revenue, unlike any other excise tax. Meanwhile, the $50 head tax on each sportsbook employee further discourages job creation.
• Established in 1951, the excise tax was never intended to be a revenue source, but rather a tool for prosecuting illegal bookmaking operations that did not pay the tax.
• Even before paying the federal excise tax, sportsbooks are low margin businesses with high operating costs including licensing fees, state taxes and other compliance expenses.

As states across the country  consider sports betting-related legislation, several proposed bills include a fee payable to professional sports leagues, a so-called “integrity fee,” calculated as 1.0% of the total amount bet (handle). The initial rationale presented for such a fee was that leagues would require additional funds to bolster efforts related to monitoring the integrity of sports contests, although ensuing justifications for the fee have also included compensation for the leagues’ intellectual property.

To contribute to a broader foundation for discussing legalized sports betting, the American Gaming Commission commissioned Oxford Economics to analyze the implications of this League Fee tax structure. Our analysis consists of an independent assessment of the potential for various tax structures, including the League Fee option, to support legalized sports betting and satisfy the goals shared by both the sports leagues and gaming industry.

WASHINGTON – Today, American Gaming Association (AGA) President and CEO Bill Miller testified before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee on how the legal, regulated sports betting market ensures game and wager integrity, protects collegiate and professional athletes, and helps detect suspicious wagering and unlawful activity.

Click here to watch Miller’s testimony.

“The protection of the integrity of competition is central to the interests of the entire sports betting ecosystem,” testified Miller. “The federal prohibition on sports betting was a failed endeavor that we shouldn’t replicate. Instead, we should work together to further eliminate the pervasive illegal market, and support experienced regulators whose oversight protects the interests and integrity of all involved.”

Read a transcript of Miller’s remarks, as prepared for delivery, here and testimony submitted for the record here.

In his testimony, Miller reiterated that the only way to protect athletes and competition from corruption is through continued legalization. “Nobody has a greater vested interest in avoiding scandal than legal gaming operators. In fact, licensed sportsbooks in Nevada have historically been the first to uncover match fixing, identifying irregular betting patterns and alerting regulators,” he said.

Miller encouraged Congress to consider increasing the maximum federal penalty for match-fixing and repeal the federal excise tax on sports wagers, which puts legal sportsbooks at a competitive disadvantage.

According to AGA research, 74 percent of American sports bettors say it is important to only bet through legal providers. Since the Supreme Court declared the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act unconstitutional in May 2018, 22 states and the District of Columbia have authorized sports betting.

Five years after the end of the federal ban on sports betting, American Gaming Association (AGA) research shows that Americans overwhelmingly support legal sports betting:

• 85 percent of American adults agree with the Supreme Court’s decision to strike down the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA), compared to 63 percent in 2019.
• 77 percent of American adults support legalization in their state of residence.
• 78 percent of bettors place all or most bets through regulated operators.
• 77 percent of online sports bets are now placed through regulated operators, compared to just 44 percent in 2019.

Bettor Migration to Legal Sportsbooks
As the legal market grows, it is increasingly attracting and retaining customers from illegal bookies and offshore operators:

Consumer Awareness
Compared to five years ago, consumers have a significantly better understanding of the legal status of sports betting in their state, however, survey results also point to continued need for consumer education:

• Only 29 percent of American adults say they are unsure of the legality of online sportsbooks in their state, a 45 percent decrease since 2018.
• Yet, 70 percent of sports bettors who placed most of their bets with illegal operators believed they were betting either exclusively with legal sportsbooks or splitting their bets evenly between legal and illegal operators.

Consumer confusion is in part attributable to illegal offshore sites misrepresenting their legal status by marketing themselves as regulated sites:

Making an Impact
Since May 2018, Americans have legally wagered $220 billion nationwide, generating $3 billion in state and local taxes for education, healthcare, infrastructure, responsible gaming and problem gambling resource funding and more.

“Five years post-PASPA, the AGA and our members continue to support responsibly expanding the legal market while cracking down on predatory illegal operators. The regulated industry and our partners across the entire ecosystem—policymakers, law enforcement, regulators, leagues, media, technology providers and more—have made significant strides in our collaborative consumer education efforts since 2018, and we will continue to find new ways to enhance consumer protections as the market matures.” – AGA President and CEO Bill Miller