Betting on Olympic Games Legalised in Las Vegas

Back in 2001 betting on the Olympic Games was banned in Las Vegas as part of a deal reached when John McCain was passing a bill which aimed to ban betting on all amateur sports. Sportsbooks in Vegas formed a deal which would allow betting on college sports but banned betting on all other amateur competitions.

However, sports fans in Vegas will be pleased to hear that as of this year it is now legal to bet on the Olympics Games and bookmakers are now accepting bets on Rio 2016. Casinos are hoping that this will bring them a financial boost during the summer when there aren’t many sporting events taking place.

The change came about as around a year ago sportsbooks in Las Vegas started protesting the fact that other sportsbooks across the world were able to take bets on the Olympics and they couldn’t which threatened their position in the global hierarchy of sports betting.

Nonetheless, not all sportsbooks are really expecting to bring in much money as a result of the change. Jay Kornegay, the vice-president of the Westgate SuperBook, said that he expects betting to be “minimal” and thinks that only basketball will draw any real betting action. He also thinks that there is likely to be significant betting on football, track and field events and golf. However, he doesn’t expect any bets to be placed on rowing or sports such as fencing.

However, if there is a particular event that receives a lot of media attention then there is a good chance that people will bet on it. Whether it’s because of controversy or because there is an American in with a chance of winning gold.