The massive growth of the sports betting industry in the past years has led to both economic benefits and concerns over public health. Just six years ago, a federal law from 1992 called the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act made it illegal for anyone to wager on sports. But since the Supreme Court overturned that law in 2018, citing it as an “affront to state sovereignty” to prevent sports betting’s legalization, 38 states have legalized it (though not all have implemented it), while 30 of those (including North Carolina since March) allow online betting. U.S. adults legally betted $120 billion on sports in 2023, and according to the North Carolina State Lottery Commission, account holders in North Carolina bet $370 million in August 2024. As a result, Goldman Sachs expects sports betting in the U.S. to become a $45 billion industry when it reaches maturity.