Mobile betting will inevitably be a hot topic at this year’s Sports Betting Symposium (SBS) at Global Gaming Expo (G2E), where statistics and associated commentary are likely to focus on the states keeping it off the table.

It will be one of many key themes discussed in full at the Sands Expo Hall in Las Vegas, with ‘Getting Mobile Rollout Right’ speakers including Rich Criado, Director of Product at Penn Interactive Ventures (PIV), GeoComply CEO David Briggs and Keith O’Loughlin, SVP of Sportsbook and Platforms at SG Digital - an online division of Scientific Games.

It is often forgotten that Delaware, despite New Jersey's more prominent role in the courts, actually beat the Garden State to the launch of this second generation of legal sports betting in the US.

Now, with a population short of a million, no-one was expecting Delaware to rival (or quickly surpass) sports betting handle in Nevada in the way that New Jersey has, but you might have expected the state which cut the ribbon for terrestrial betting at Dover Downs just three weeks after the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992 (PASPA) was overturned to have moved on to mobile betting much more quickly.

In any case, this varied approach to regulation right off the bat has typified the rollout of sports betting in the first 18 months (near enough) since the judges ruled in favor of striking down PASPA, thereby opening the doors to legal sports betting across the country.

Yet, while the opportunity to embrace sports betting is now an option nationwide, it is New Jersey that comfortably leads the way amongst the active states (13 at last count), mostly because of its openness to online/mobile wagering. In fact, sports betting handle in the state is now consistently weighted 85 per cent in its favor.

It is, therefore, quite surprising to see the stubborn opposition to such wagering in the likes of Mississippi and New York - a “slow walker” to mobile clinging to what many have deemed unfounded concerns over its constitutionality.

Fortunately for Mississippi, neighboring activity could well be the catalyst for change. Reporting on the first 12 months of sports betting in the state last month, Executive Director of the Mississippi Gaming Commission Allen Godfrey cited North Easterly neighbor Tennessee, as well as Arkansas, as new competitors to the state.

“Yes, I do think there will be a push from the industry for mobile wagering,” said Godfrey in an article for SportsHandle last month. “You know how it takes a while, you gotta keep pushing and eventually it will get there.”

Tennessee is an interesting case, as the only state to legalize mobile-only sports betting. Martin Lycka is the Director of Regulatory Affairs at GVC Group and a headline act on another of this year’s SBS sessions - Risk Management and Responsible Gambling.

He described the Tennessee bill as “very much European style legislation” where remote gambling products need not be tethered to a land-based casino, racetrack or sports venue.

The state is, according to Lycka, one of the “exploratory pack” to follow the ‘Trailblazing Ten’ of Nevada (“grandfathered” into the new regulatory world), New Jersey, Delaware, West Virginia, Mississippi, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, New Mexico, Arkansas and New York.

“US state-by-state sports betting regulation is seemingly on a Tom Brady like led bulldozing charge that knocks down opposition in one state legislature after another,” he added.

“Nonetheless, TB12 is not getting any younger, Gronk has retired and most importantly of all, the defense they’re marching up against has rallied and is seeking to stop or at the very least slow down the Sports Regulation Special Team. Third and long conversions might be required…”

Where new states are concerned, expect the legal presence or restriction of mobile based betting to continue making most of the headlines. And expect the jam-packed SBS schedule at G2E to shine an informative light on just why this is.

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