Sports betting

Sports betting is the activity of predicting sports and placing wagers on the outcome. Some suggest bets were placed for the first time in Ancient Greece, while others insist there is evidence of similar betting activities even before that.

The frequency of sports that is bet upon differs with culture. Most of those bets are placed on basketball, baseball, mixed martial arts, boxing and auto racing at both professional and amateur levels.

In many parts of the United States, sports betting is illegal. It is legal in several other states. They include Iowa, New York, Rhode Island, Colorado and Nevada. In countries like Australia, New Zealand, and Sweden sports betting winnings are not taxed. Other jurisdictions, like Germany, impose taxes on wagering profits, but naturally the percentage varies from one country to another.

Sports betting can be done on several Internet websites or in public.

Bookmaker

The bookmaker, also known as “a betting agency” or “sportsbook” is a company or a person that provides the sports betting services at odds, agreed upon in advance.

Sports Betting Media

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  Odds boards in a Las Vegas sportsbook

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  Betting on the Favorite, an 1870 engraving published in Harper's Weekly

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  Sportsbook at Wynn Las Vegas, during Super Bowl XLII, February 2008

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  Map of sports betting legality as of October 15,  2021 (2021 -10-15)     Sports betting legal     Sports betting illegal Kentucky has since legalized sports betting, with betting to go live no later than December 28, 2023.

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  Premier League kit of West Ham United sponsorship by Betway

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  Joseph J. "Sport" Sullivan was an American bookmaker and gambler from Boston, Massachusetts who helped to initiate the 1919 Black Sox Scandal.

Related pages

• Organized crime
• Point shaving
• Match fixing