The Paris Games are expected to be the most heavily bet Olympics in U.S. history, but a few of the most popular sports are off the board in two of the 38 states (plus Washington, D.C.) with legalized betting.
Louisiana and Massachusetts don’t allow betting on judged events, meaning betting operators can’t accept wagers on gymnastics, equestrian, breakdancing (official name is breaking), surfing, and BMX freestyle.
“Regulators don’t like operating in a gray area—and these kinds of sports present a gray-area problem,” said Ronnie Jones, a former chairman of the Louisiana Gaming Control Board. “If we make a decision in Louisiana, I am sure the other 38 jurisdictions might go, ‘What are they thinking?’ But at the end of the day, the chairman and that gaming control board are responsible for what happens in that jurisdiction.”
The ban on judged sports in the two states shows the patchwork of regulations that have arisen since the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act in 2018. The decision cleared states to offer legalized sports betting that Nevada had the exclusive lock on for decades. In turn, it has resulted in differing standards in each jurisdiction.
Louisiana gambling regulations spell out that results must be “determined on the field of play and can be proven by a box score or statistical analysis” in order for bets to be taken in the state. The Massachusetts Gaming Commission voted in January 2023 “to exclude Olympic events [whose] outcome relies primarily on the assessment of a judge or panel of judges,” a spokesperson for the body told Front Office Sports.
But the two states have differing views on boxing. Louisiana allows Olympic boxing bets, while Massachusetts does not.
And just because states allow betting on sports and events, that doesn’t necessarily mean operators like DraftKings and FanDuel will offer such bets. At best, bettors in states that allow betting in judged competition will be able to wager on only about 60% of the 329 medal events at the Paris Games.
“The sports that are most popular are the ones that are truly American sports, like men’s and women’s basketball,” said Jay Kornegay, a longtime VP at Las Vegas’s SuperBook at Westgate. “Events like running and swimming events receive very, very little action.”
