13 States Where You Can (Legally) Bet On This Weekend's Football Games

The Buffalo Bills will travel to MetLife Stadium in New Jersey this weekend to take on the New York Giants. Some of their fans will likely only go part of the way, getting off I-90 just past Syracuse. There, they'll be able to hit one of the upstate casinos with a sportsbook and bet on the NFL legally, something they couldn't do last season.

With all jokes aside about the futility of betting on the Giants, who are 1.5-point underdogs to the Bills, their fans in the New York city area, can place legal bets without going so far, because sports betting is also now legal across the Hudson River in New Jersey.

While Giants fans could go to the Meadowlands Race Track right near the stadium to place a bet on the Bills-Giants game, or any other NFL game, they wouldn't even have to. New Jersey fans can now bet online.

Hometown fans of the Steelers (4-point favorites at home to Seattle) and the Eagles (slight favorites at Atlanta) will also be able to bet legally on their teams online at home in Pennsylvania, which along with New York and New Jersey, is another state where sports betting is now legal as the NFL season gets going.

About one in five Americans will be able to legally bet in their home state on Sunday's NFL matchups, and many college games this season, with 13 states now having legal sports betting either in person, through apps, or both, up and running. A couple of other states have approved legal sports betting, but are yet to implement it.

Here’s a look at where you can win and lose money trying to pick the winners.

The Big Ones

Vegas Baby

Nevada was allowed to have sports books back when it was illegal pretty much everywhere else, and Vegas used to be where people went to put down action on games. While there are lots of other places you can bet now, Vegas still has a booming sports book scene. Online sports betting is also legal in Nevada, though you have to go in person to a sports book to register first.

New Jersey

The state that sued to get the federal ban on sports betting overturned by the Supreme Court, has been the state that has most benefited from a new wave of sports betting opportunities. Legal sports books are in New Jersey's casinos and tracks, and it also allows mobile betting. The handle in the Garden State has been impressive. New Jersey bettors plunked down a record $250 million-plus on sports contests in July, most of it online, translating to nearly $18 million in revenue for the sports books.

“It’s a gamechanger.” Here’s why NJ Gov. Phil Murphy says that sports betting is so important for the state. https://t.co/2m20hNrBsV pic.twitter.com/mfENyq3h8o

— CNBC (@CNBC) September 9, 2019

Others With Live Sports Books And Mobile Betting

Four other states allow you to go to a sports book and place a bet, or bet through an online app: Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Iowa and West Virginia.

States With Live Sports Betting Only

Seven other states allow bettors to put down money on sports events only at live sports books, with no mobile options. Those states are: Delaware, Mississippi, New York, Indiana, Arkansas, New Mexico and Oregon.

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