After a legislative season marked by both advances and setbacks, Sports Betting Alliance president Joe Maloney said the industry's push to expand legal online sports betting and iGaming is entering a new phase, one focused as much on protecting regulated markets as opening new ones.
- Sports Betting Alliance president Joe Maloney says legalization efforts are shifting from simply expanding markets to protecting existing regulated sportsbooks through responsible gaming and consumer safeguards.
- Despite mixed legislative results in 2026, Maloney pointed to progress in Georgia, Virginia, and Massachusetts as evidence more lawmakers are actively engaging with sports betting and iGaming policy.
- The SBA expects defending regulated operators against higher taxes, new restrictions, and offshore competition to become just as important as pursuing legalization in 2027.
While several high-profile proposals fell short this year, Maloney pointed to progress in states including Georgia, Virginia, and Massachusetts as evidence lawmakers are increasingly engaging with how legal online gambling should be regulated rather than whether it should exist.
“A lot of these things are important points of progress because it shows people investing the time and effort to carefully consider how legalization can benefit their community,” Maloney said in an interview with Covers.
The comments come as the SBA, whose members include FanDuel, DraftKings, BetMGM, Fanatics Sportsbook, and bet365, completes its first full legislative calendar year under Maloney, who took over the organization in 2025 after serving as senior vice president of strategic communications for the American Gaming Association.
Maloney said the alliance's priorities remain expanding legal sports betting in the remaining states without mobile wagering while also advancing online casino legislation. But he said the industry's advocacy has evolved beyond simply arguing for legalization.
"We've got to make sure that we show up and we meet our legislative and our regulatory stakeholders where they are, and remind folks of the work that we've been doing in partnership with the states to platform this product in a legal, regulated manner," he said.
Positive momentum
Among this year's bright spots, Maloney praised Georgia, where legislation ultimately failed but advanced further than in previous years. While the proposal did not reach the finish line, he said bringing sports betting to a House floor vote demonstrated meaningful progress and created a foundation for another attempt in 2027.
"I think we're going to have an opportunity to really build on that progress in next year's legislative session," he said.
Georgia, the third-most populated state without legal sports betting after California and Texas, has long tantalized sports betting legalization advocates. Bills in multiple legislative sessions have garnered bipartisan support, but none have gained enough traction to pass the Republican-controlled legislature.
Maloney also highlighted Virginia, where iGaming legislation passed both legislative chambers before falling to reach the governor, and Massachusetts, where regulators have begun studying what an online casino framework could look like.
Maryland presented a different challenge after a leading legislative sponsor left to run successfully for county executive, forcing supporters to regroup. Even so, Maloney said the process prompted more substantive conversations around regulated gaming, an issue he expects will remain central as more states evaluate legalization.
Challenges remain
Maloney said the SBA also spent considerable effort opposing tax increases and new restrictions in states with established markets, arguing policymakers must consider how additional costs affect the competitiveness of licensed operators.
He pointed to Colorado, where lawmakers ultimately adopted a narrower package of consumer protection measures after initially considering broader restrictions that included advertising limitations and bans on proposition wagers. Instead, legislation ultimately focused on measures such as credit card restrictions and deposit caps, policies the industry had largely embraced, while avoiding provisions Maloney argued could have pushed bettors away from regulated sportsbooks.
"Prop bets are a reflection of fandom," he said. "These are things that people like to do, and we really risk harming the regulated framework if you say to a group of customers that enjoy doing this responsibly, that enjoy doing it within a state-regulated framework, and we say to them, 'You can't do that here.'"
The defensive efforts come as a growing number of states have considered increasing taxes or implementing restrictions on legal sportsbooks. Ohio this year became the first legal sports betting state to introduce legislation that would again outlaw regulated platforms.
Meanwhile, competition from offshore sportsbooks and other unregulated online gambling platforms persists. Although legal sports betting has expanded dramatically since the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the federal sports wagering ban in 2018, Maloney said licensed operators continue competing against hundreds of offshore businesses that do not pay state taxes, obtain gaming licenses or comply with responsible gambling requirements.
“None of these policy activities, be it fiduciary in nature with respect to taxation, can exist in a vacuum right now,” Maloney said, referencing tax increase proposals in major sports betting markets including Michigan and Arizona. “There's enormous amounts of competition out there outside of state-regulated frameworks."
Legalization advocates’ work has already shown tangible improvement.
According to American Gaming Association data cited by Maloney, roughly three-quarters of sports wagers before 2018 were placed through illegal operators. Today, he said, more than half occur through regulated sportsbooks.
Looking toward 2027, Maloney said he expects states to continue examining both sports betting and iGaming legislation while placing greater emphasis on responsible gaming, consumer protections, and preserving regulated markets.
“People are really beginning to understand this now, and I think we've seen a lot of progress and we're seeing more momentum as a result of that,” Maloney said.
