Alabama sports betting may not come until 2024

Peter LewisPeter Lewis | February 14, 2022
Alabama sports betting may not come until 2024

While most of the attention has been going to California, Texas and Florida in terms of getting things rocking with legalizing sports wagers, things are quite intriguing for Alabama sports betting as well. In 2019 and 2021, the state tried to make things legal, but had no such luck. Now, people are getting a little worried, as Alabama sports betting may not come until 2024. If this happens, people would be furious.

Indeed, multiple bills have been presented in the past to try and get sports betting all set in Alabama. However, the efforts on the previous tickets didn’t go through. To make things worse for all of the sports fans down south, there’s currently no legislation in the works for the November 2022 ballot. If this doesn’t change, then people would then have to wait for yet another year to try and get things to pass.

If that were to happen, then the earliest we could see Alabama sports betting go through would be 2024. That’s not the news that people were hoping to see, as more and more folks in the state have become vocal about wanting legal sports betting to arrive sooner than later. With so many popular sports in the state, especially college football, people want to be able to check out NCAAF odds for their bets.

Governor Kay Ivey is in favor for legal sports betting. Ivey has been working with lawmakers to try and get things to change, even going through with daily fantasy sports to be legal back in 2019. With that said, she’s also on board for sports betting to be added to things as well, as Ivey knows how much tax revenue could be brought in for Alabama as a whole. To date, though, she hasn’t seen things get over the line.

Football fans can’t wait to bet on Alabama Crimson Tide football

Forgive us for stating the obvious, but football fans can’t wait to bet on Alabama Crimson Tide football. Each season, Nick Saban and his coaching staff have this group of standout players ready to compete for a National Championship. After winning it all in January of 2021, Alabama made it back to the national title game this past season, but they unfortunately lost to Kirby Smart and the Georgia Bulldogs.

Despite that small setback, Alabama is already considered one of the favorites to potentially win the natty next season. That’s because countless stars will be back on the field for Saban, of course including quarterback Bryce Young. Young, despite being an underclassman, is considered one of the top players in the country. He’s already the favorite to win the Heisman Trophy in 2022 after winning it in 2021.

Having said that, Alabama fans always go nuts when it comes to this team playing. They love betting on the team to do well. That’s why you always see so many futures bets being made on the Crimson Tide ahead of the season. In addition, people often travel outside of Alabama to make their bets on this team. People are waiting for the laws to change so they no longer will need to cross state lines to do so.

With the way Alabama’s program has been built, they’re indeed always going to be in contention to blow teams out. Once Alabama betting does get legalized, you’re going to see a monster amount of people bet on this team. On top of that, the Auburn Tigers also have an enormous following and major bets will be made on the Tigers as well. College football will be massive betting wise in Alabama down the road.

Where can Alabama sports fans place their wagers?

The question on folks minds is where can Alabama sports fans place their wagers? As we’ve made clear, it’s illegal in Alabama. This hasn’t stopped folks from doing so illegally, which is unfortunate. Millions of dollars, just like other states where things haven’t been made legal yet, are being bet on in Alabama without things being regulated. This has been frustrating for Kay to see, which is why change is needed.

For folks who do want to obey laws and no lay wagers under the table, they can do so, just out of state. That’s why Tennessee has become a popular tourist destination for people in Alabama. Sports betting indeed is legal in Tennessee, and it’s a short drive over from Alabama. When people make their way from Alabama to Tennessee, they check out all the sports odds and place bets with confidence.

On top of that, people can even make online sports betting accounts in Tennessee and complete their wagers that way. On top of Tennessee, sports fans from Alabama have also been traveling over to Mississippi for their betting needs too. Unfortunately, there aren’t any other close states where betting is legal.

This is why citizens in Alabama are counting down the days for sports betting to be approved for the state. The wait could come to a close soon, but things are looking increasingly likely that nothing will change until 2024.

Peter Lewis

Peter Lewis Jr. comes from Mississippi where he and his family spend their days discussing college football and basketball. He's written sports journalism for years after studying journalism at a local university.