You can also play poker on several online sites like Poker Stars, but there are only two states at present that will allow you to bet money. Otherwise, you have to live outside the US in a country that does allow it.
There’s also off track betting on horse races or you can just go to the racetracks and bet.
The state-sponsored OTBs in New York closed a few years ago due to lack of profitability.
And, next week, you’ll see a ton of informal / technically illegal pools for the NCAA men’s basketball tournament, in pretty much every office in the country.
Central City and Blackhawk are awash in casinos.
Wow really? holding such an informal bet amongst friends is illegal?
What about a person to person wager, can I bet you £10 that Federer wins Wimbledon this year?
In fact, what about cards? Much of my teenage years were spent playing cards, pool or darts for small wagers in the pub, all above board. Can you do that in the US?
People do that all the time here, yes. And, yes, it’s likely to be technically illegal in most, if not all, locations, but it’s a crime that would be rarely, if ever, prosecuted.
We in Detroit can always go over the river to Windsor’s sports book, but they are weird. Parlays only on today’s games only, and real shitty odds, so few people do.
That was just in New York City and I think there was some corruption involved as well. There’s an OTB just down the street from me.
That said, if Saratoga is racing and I want to place a bet I might just head up there to bet. For any sort of parimutuel, I use NYRA’s website. Very easy to get money in and out of and completely legal (horse racing is a defined exception in the UIGEA.)
Every once in a while a poker game will get busted if it’s regular and the stakes are high enough.
Sometimes a guy who gets invited by a friend of a friend will lose his shirt and want his money back, and when they tell him to go pound sand he’ll snitch just to be an asshole.
I’ve seen this a few times but again, these are games where thousands, and even 10’s of thousands of dollars change hand; it’s not the game you play with your neighbors once a month in the basement for nickels and dimes.
Yeah, I doubt* anyone would get in trouble on an individual level. The gov would be more concerned with the person running the pool, and probably then only if larger-scale. But I have seen bars that have the “$3 a square” type boards up for years and are unmolested.
*Can never never say it didn’t not happen at least once, but let’s say it won’t happen in 99.999999…% of cases.
Another phenomenon are cardrooms/card clubs. The only have poker etc. I’m not sure of the legal distinction, but they are in some areas where casinos aren’t.
In Fairfax County, VA, police shot and killed a man who had organized a football pool.
This.
There’s no US equivalent of TAB or Betfair. And nobody ever bets on say, the outcome of the next election. It took me a while when I kept hearing odds on the radio (Abbot over Gillard, at 2 to 1) to understand that the announcer wasn’t just being interesting, you could actually head out to the TAB and place a bet on it.
It’s a much larger part of the Australian culture, which probably is an offshoot of the UK in this regard.
We need to defer to the Aussies in these matters. The union of booze and gambling in a single high st establishment is a level above where we are in the UK. They have much to teach us.
Just an anecdotal observation from someone who has been an American sports observer for a long time, I think some of you are underestimating the breadth and depth of the sports betting culture here.
The snippet about New York OTBs closing was interesting but they might have mostly because horse racing is slowly dying out as a spectator/gambling sport. Walk into any sports book in Nevada this week or next and you’ll be hard pressed to find a seat. Those guys don’t go into hibernation for a year, either.
Sports Illustrated did a series on sports betting in college a few years back and had a good time relating how soon they could walk onto just about any campus completely cold and find someone to take a bet on a football or basketball game.
In my opinion, the neighborhood punt shop would do just fine here once the regulations were in place. Just like buying pot, consumers would always prefer to place their bets in a safe and regulated environment.
Yeah, betting in yer local is a recipe for a lots and lots of good decisions.
This. In the state of New South Wales, in particular, there is an astounding variety of legalised gambling, much of it taking place in establishments where alcohol is bought and consumed legally (hotels and licensed clubs). And, in spite of those legal forms, there is still some illegal gambling going on, much of which is ignored by the police, because it’s amateur stuff on a small scale.
I live in Nevada and you can bet on sports in many of the casinos. That being said, I personally do not know anybody who does this. I am sure the commercial betting culture is much bigger in the UK than it is here.
Wait a tick? There is a reason to go to a casino and gamble that doesn’t involve abusing the free booze privileges? :eek:
One thing that gets people - in casinos and other select outside bars with machines at the bar, I can put in (usually) $10, bet $0.01 each time and play very slowly, and drink for free.