Ready for the Sports Betting Explosion?

Suddenly, all bets are on regarding the future of American sports gambling.

A surge in betting caused by the Supreme Court’s lifting of a federal ban on sports wagering is expected to trigger new gaming opportunities and burnish existing sports books in Las Vegas casinos — but also spawn a battle in California among horse-racing tracks, Indian casinos and card clubs as they try to grab a slice of the added action.

“We are excited and we are ready to roll on this,” said Ernest Stevens Jr., chairman of the National Indian Gaming Assn., a trade group for Indian casinos.

The high court’s move overall could unleash a torrent of gambling nationwide that hitherto was illegal and totaled at least $150 billion a year, according to the American Gaming Assn., a casino trade group that estimates 97% of current U.S. sports betting is illegal.

And the amount illegally bet on sports might be as high as $400 billion a year, noted Brian McGill, a gaming analyst with the research firm Telsey Advisory Group. “The process will now begin for each state to pass a law to allow for sports gaming,” McGill said in a note to clients.

Assemblyman Adam Gray (D-Merced) said Monday he would pursue a constitutional amendment that, if approved by voters, would allow sports betting in California.

“It is time to bring this multibillion-dollar industry out of the shadows,” Gray said in a statement. Gray and other legislators had tried four other times since 2012 to allow sports betting in the state, but none of the bills reached the governor’s desk.

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