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Is gambling on sports in America illegal?

Gambling on sports in America has always been widespread. Big events like the Super Bowl and the World Series can generate billions of dollars worth of bets.

But not all states in the U.S. have legalized gambling on sports. Currently, only the state of Nevada allows betting on individual sports except for jai alai which is legal in some areas mostly in Florida.

The U.S. law is strict on sports gambling partly due to the possibility that events can be fixed or illegally influenced with bribes or other forms. The American sports history has been tainted with several gambling scandals in the past. One of these was the 1919 World Series which was fixed by gamblers by paying the Chicago White Sox players to lose the series. There was also the scandal involving professional baseball player and manager Pete Rose whose gambling habits resulted in his banning from the sport and the Baseball Hall of Fame. Players are normally strictly prohibited by sports leagues and associations from betting on sports and associating with gamblers.

So far, there are only two legal ways to bet on sports in America. Betting at licensed Nevada Sports Books is legal while betting with bookies in almost every town is not legal. The Nevada Sports Books, however, do not accept wagers across state lines although they can set up phone accounts. The sports book covers various sport such as professional and college football and basketball, professional baseball, professional hockey as well as horse and dog racing. On certain occasions, events such as professional golf tournaments and the Indy 500 are also covered.

Betting with offshore or international sports books is also becoming popular but its legality is not that very clear. This type of betting is somewhat similar to the Nevada Sports Books and may develop from just the phone to the online services.

The other legal way to bet on sports apart from Nevada is the Oregon Lottery.

As for online sports gambling, the U.S. government has not legalized it yet. Although some states have considered legalizing online gambling, bills for this purpose have failed to pass, according to Chris Costigan, a sports gambling analyst and president of Gambling 911.com. Meanwhile, most online sports books are reportedly situated offshore in foreign countries where they house their computer serves. This is purportedly meant to avoid breaking U.S. law which has not approved sports gambling on the internet.