Although the USA has traditionally taken a hostile view to sports betting, it has made forward strides in this area in recent years. In 2018, the Supreme Court made the decision to legalize the practice, leading to a marked rise in the number of people using online sites in order to lay wagers on their favorite sports teams.

More recently, there have been moves from certain quarters to bring in brick-and-mortar betting lounges inside the stadiums of sports teams themselves. It looks like the Audi Field in the nation’s capital – home to soccer team DC United – will become the first stadium in the country to host such a facility in the near future.

Mobile betting popular on 777 Casino

In the last couple of years, Americans have enjoyed unprecedented freedom to place bets online on gambling sites such as 777 Casino. While these sites do not have their headquarters on US soil, US citizens can access them remotely and try their luck at predicting the outcome of matches – including while in the stadium itself.

The site offers players to bet on a wide variety of different markets, including the NFL, NBA and NHL. As well as sports betting, such sites also offer a range of slots and table games, like poker, blackjack and baccarat, explaining why they have become so popular in the USA and beyond.

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DC United leading the way

At the start of this year, it was announced that NFL stadiums were to be allowed to host betting lounges within their confines, while teams could also accept sponsorship money from betting companies. Although the sites cannot incorporate betting windows, they can showcase the mobile gambling options available to fans while within the venue.

But despite America’s most popular sport legalizing the practice in March, it is another favorite pastime which seems set to make the all-important breakthrough. Soccer team DC United first entered into talks to open up a sportsbook in November last year, signing a sponsorship deal and discussing the possibility of opening up the very first in-stadium betting lounge in the whole of the USA.

USA playing catch-up with UK

Of course, the States are still lagging far behind their British counterparts when it comes to the world of sports betting. The UK has many years’ experience in legalized gambling, both in land-based casinos and in online betting sites. There are booths and kiosks placed in many grounds throughout the British Isles, with punters able to place bets in real-time and collect their winnings in cash at the close of play.

So while America still has a lot to learn from the UK about how it can evolve its domestic sports betting sector, the upcoming developments at the Audi Field are a step in the right direction. Illinois and New York are rumored to be the key states to watch with regard to the roll-out of betting lounges in a multitude of sports in the near future, but for now, fans can still access the most popular sites online using their mobile phones.