For many years, if you wanted to legally beg on sports, the only place to do it was in Nevada where the casinos in Las Vegas had a monopoly. It was considered ok because Nevada was different than the other states. Sports betting, casinos, legalized prostitution and other sins were to be found in Nevada and millions of tourists visited the state. As years go by states needing money as they cut personal taxes have looked to the sin taxes to growth their revenues. First it was a casino and the states are looking for revenues which money is already being bet in the underground economy. It is estimated sports betting takes over $50 billion in the underground economy and thanks to the US Supreme Court some of that money will be taxed and help pay for infrastructure.

The sports leagues preferred the old way to only have one legalized gambling spot, but the US Supreme Court disagreed. The states argued that the monitoring of sports betting will be easier now that it is legalized. One would think it is hard to monitor sports betting in the underground economy.

The impact on Wall Street because there are public gaming companies is positive because the money will come from the underground economy to the legalized more scrutinized economy. More money should flow into legal companies and sports betting will continue.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, with all companies governments play a role. Sometimes the role is in the background to protect their competitive playing field, sometimes it is to keep workers working, sometimes it is to change the rules. Part of the senior management analysis is what happens if the rules change – do you believe the company can adapt and benefit from the changes? In some ways companies are like people some people can adapt, others do not want to adapt, and others have to be kicking and screaming to adapt. Which company is the ones you invest in?

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.