Olympic betting allowed back in Nevada

The proposal to re-legalise Summer and Winter Olympic betting in the state, made by a group of sportsbooks on the Las Vegas Strip last month, was passed unanimously.

Operator William Hill announced shortly after that it would be posting odds on the 2016 Games.

William Hill CEO John Asher said: “With more than two out of every three Americans having watched the London Olympics in 2012, the games in Rio have the potential to make a sizeable impact in August of 2016, like we saw last June with the [FIFA] World Cup.”

Nevada is the only US state where betting on single-game sports is legal, but betting on both the Summer and Winter Olympic Games was banned in 2001 when Senator John McCain attempted to outlaw betting on amateur sports in the state.

A compromise was reached to allow wagering on college sports providing that betting on all other amateur sports, which included the Olympics, was banned.

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David Cook served as an editor and writer for Gambling Insider from 2018 to 2020, where he played a central role in shaping the publication’s editorial direction. He oversaw the creation and implementation of the broader editorial strategy for Gambling Insider and its related publications, managing the production of 30 print magazines annually while also contributing to the management of GamblingInsider.com and a weekly digital newsletter.

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