Following the US Supreme Court’s decision to strike down anti-sports-betting legislation, the floodgates have opened on an enormous new industry. See, Americans really love to gamble. According to the American Gaming Association, US casinos are a $240 billion industry. And that’s only legal gambling activities. Estimates vary, but the illegal US gambling market is said to total $150 billion. To have a massive market like this materialize overnight happens once in a blue moon. Accordingly, numerous cryptocurrency-backed platforms are aiming to take a slice of the pie.
The states decide
Cryptocurrency gambling projects are nothing new, with 101 ICOs currently taking place or already complete. What is new is the possibility for companies to legally offer sports betting services to the hungry US market after states make their decisions. The Supreme Court only ruled that the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act violated the 10th amendment of the constitution. It doesn’t make sports-betting legal nationwide, but individual states can now make the decision for themselves. New Jersey and Delaware are top contenders to take the first-mover advantage and could have laws on the books as soon as the beginning of June.
Crypto home run
The coin or token that manages to lead the pack of sports-betting cryptocurrencies promises to have a lucrative future indeed. The field is already getting crowded, and it’s sure to get more competitive following recent developments. Projects such as Wagerr and FansUnite are just two of the many sports-betting cryptocurrencies popping up left and right. There’s no guarantee that any one company can acquire a meaningful chunk of the estimated $150b betting market but if one can, it would put it in league with the likes of Bitcoin (current market cap of $140b) and Ethereum (current market cap of $70b).
eSports to follow
Are eSports actually sports? I’m still not sure, but some are betting that people will want to wager on competitive video gaming as well. The Mark Cuban-backed team at Unikrn were very happy to hear the Court’s recent decision. The Seattle-based platform is well positioned to offer eSports betting services with their cryptocurrency UnikoinGold (UKG). Cryptocurrencies and eSports have similar demographics (young and tech-savvy) so it could be a match made in heaven.
