If the early weeks of the NFL season are any indication, the popularity of sports betting is still growing as more states legalize the practice.
GeoComply Solutions is a Canada-based company that provides geolocation, fraud, and cybersecurity services for the U.S. gaming industry. Because different states have different laws relating to sports betting, the company’s technology is used by sportsbooks’ mobile apps and websites to verify that the user is who they say they are and where they say they are.
For example, Virginia allows sports betting on the FanDuel platform, but nearby Washington, D.C., does not. So if someone were to pull up the FanDuel app and place a wager, GeoComply would verify that that person was actually standing in Virginia and let them log in. But if that same person walked across one of the bridges spanning the Potomac River into the district, GeoComply would block them from making that same bet.
The company reported that geolocation volumes shot up more than 71% for NFL opening weekend this year earlier in September — an increase of some 40 million extra logins. GeoComply CEO Anna Sainsbury called the growth “unbelievable.”
“The growth of legal betting suggests that Americans are ditching offshore sportsbooks for regulated options in their home states,” she said. “This is exactly the outcome legislators and regulators looked to achieve through legalization as they now protect consumers and increase tax revenues.”
Danny DiRienzo, senior director of government relations at GeoComply, told the Washington Examiner that there is a combination of factors driving the increased amount of legal sports betting. A big one is additional states that have come on board and legalized the practice over the past year.
The transition toward legal sports betting began in 2018 when the Supreme Court ruled that a 1992 law prohibiting the activity was unconstitutional. That landmark decision paved the way for states to legalize sports betting, and each year, more and more states have begun offering residents the opportunity to put some skin in the game.
At the start of last year’s NFL season, more than two dozen states, plus Washington, D.C., allowed fans to place wagers on their favorite teams — although not every sportsbook works in every single state.
That number has ballooned to 31 states plus the district as of the start of the 2022 NFL season. Additionally, five more states have legalized sports betting but haven’t yet launched it or made it operational, according to data from the American Gaming Association.
The biggest addition to the collection of states that have legalized sports betting since last year’s opening weekend was New York, the country’s fourth most populated state, boasting some 20 million residents.
The Empire State made up more than 15% of the total geolocation volume tracked by GeoComply over the NFL opening weekend — the highest of any state. Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Michigan combined made up an additional 37.3%.
“We did expect a year-over-year increase for sure. However, the percentage increase in the volume of traffic for the opening weekend was certainly more than we had anticipated,” DiRienzo said.
A recently released Pew Research Center survey confirmed the growing number of people placing money on sports. The survey found that 1 in 5 U.S. adults, or 19%, have personally wagered money on sports over the past year.
Still, most reported betting with family or friends in a private betting pool, such as a fantasy football league. Fourteen percent reported wagering cash either at a casino or racetrack or using an online sportsbook, such as FanDuel, DraftKings, BetMGM, Caesars, etc.
“It has become institutionalized and accepted behavior and conduct,” Brian Marks, executive director of the University of New Haven’s entrepreneurship and innovation program, told the Washington Examiner of sports betting.
Another contributing factor to the growth of sports betting in American society is how it is becoming increasingly enmeshed in sporting culture. Commercials for various sportsbooks permeate television screens, and pundits discuss spreads.
“The leagues have clearly embraced sports betting now. You’ve got in-stadium advertising and partnerships,” remarked DiRienzo.
To further illustrate the point that the growth isn’t only coming from more states coming on board and more people being able to bet, DiRienzo pointed out that GeoComply also looks at traffic volume within stadiums.
On opening weekend, the Tennessee Titans played their home opener against the New York Giants at Nissan Stadium. Last year, they also had a home opener, and from last year to this year, in-stadium geolocation traffic still increased by more than 70%.
“Looking forward to next year, I think we already have three markets that are on the books to open up before next NFL season … so we anticipate this growth rate to continue,” DiRienzo said.
While many people still gambled illegally or used offshore books to bet on U.S. sports before the 2018 Supreme Court ruling, states formalizing the practice have created a new market of people who might have resisted betting illegally and are now joining in, according to Marks.
This NFL season is only expected to feature more sports wagering as it gets closer to the Super Bowl, when games have higher stakes and draw more watchers and gamblers. In total, nearly 47 million Americans are expected to bet on the NFL this season, according to the American Gaming Association.
