Sports In Which Betting Is Legal
The history of gambling in sports is full of attempts by governments to regulate or halt the practice. This is especially true of team sports, whether the betting practice common to it are straight up odds or the spread system. Generally, these sports are frowned on as betting vehicles by governmental bodies because individual players are also open to temptation or coercion by bookmakers in order to skew the results of the game.
In some sports, however, it is legal to place bets. Typically, these sports include those that are of shorter lengths, where finishers are ranked from first to last. This is called perimutuel gambling; all bets are placed in a pool, from which taxes (!) and the cut for the bookmaker are taken out before the payoff. Here are some of the sports to which the perimutuel exemption applies.
Horse Racing: Horse racing is the original event when it comes to the history of gambling in sports. At first only watched and wagered on by the upper classes, horse racing became very popular across all economic levels in America and in Europe in the late 19th and early 20th century. There are three different types of horse racing, thoroughbred, quarter horse, and harness racing. All forms of racing bets are regulated by state governments.
Greyhound Racing: The form of greyhound racing that we know today was started in 1912. Dogs chase a mechanical rabbit around the track and the dog that runs the fastest wins the race. As with horse racing, bets are cast on the likely outcome of the field, based on rankings of first, second, and so on. This form of racing is not popular among animal rights activists as the conditions in which the dogs are kept are often poor.
Jai-alai: The only form of sports which involves human participants and is bet on via the perimutuel system. This game is kind of like racquetball, with lacrosse sticks. The game is much faster than racquetball, however, with the ball traveling at speeds of up to 180mph. It is played in a court with three walls known as a fronton. The sport is popular in Florida, although it is not well known throughout the rest of North America.
Perimutuel betting systems are important as they are the only sports betting systems that remain legal in states other than Nevada. It is thought that the government has allowed this type of gambling to continue as there is a guaranteed chance of making money off of it, both for the bookie and for tax purposes. Certainly the case cannot be made that gambling in these sports does not undermine the integrity of sport, as cheating is just as prevalent in perimutuel betting as it is in regulated team play. Once again, the ability to prove that money will be made for the government is critical to allowing gambling, as has been the case throughout the history of gambling in sports. Read our article on 'betting scandals in baseball'.
