Geoff Freeman, AGA president
Geoff Freeman, AGA president
Of the US$ 36.5 billion that will be wagered, US$ 35.4 billion – or 97% – will be placed illegally through illicit offshore websites and sports bookies. Americans wager roughly US$ 154 billion a year on sports illegally due to the 1992 federal prohibition on sports betting.
"The amount wagered illegally on professional baseball is another sign the federal ban on sports betting has become an utter failure,” said Geoff Freeman, AGA president and CEO. "It’s time for Washington to stop depriving states of critical tax revenue and allow them to reap the rewards of a regulated market.”
In 2016, the AGA estimated that fans would illegally wager roughly US$ 2.4 billion on MLB postseason games. That same year, only an estimated US$ 85 million was placed legally on playoff games, according to Nevada Gaming Control Board data.
The Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act, or PASPA, dictates that Nevada is the only state permitted to offer traditional sports betting. Despite this ban, sports betting has only grown more prevalent. In fact, in 2016 alone, Americans wagered an estimated US$ 154 billion on all sports, nearly all of it through bookies and offshore, illicit web sites.
In coming up with its illegal gambling estimates on MLB, the AGA took the most conservative estimate of illegal sports betting activity (US$ 80 billion per year) from the 1999 National Gambling Impact Study Commission's Final Report. It applied GDP growth as reported by the Census Bureau to make this current to today.
