Cryptocurrency Sports Betting Bills Become Focus Of Texas, Wyoming

• Cryptocurrency is one of the most popular ways for sports bettors using international online sportsbooks to fund their accounts.
• Legal online and mobile sports betting applications in the U.S. have yet to offer Bitcoin or other forms of it to customers as an accepted payment method.
• Texas and Wyoming each have sports wagering bills up for legalization that would allow for cryptocurrency to be a form of payment open to gamblers in their state.

AUSTIN, Texas – Cryptocurrency is creeping its way into sports betting legislation as both Texas and Wyoming are seeing it in bill proposals introduced in their 2021 sessions. Could this be the way of the future for online and mobile sportsbooks in the United States?

Cryptocurrency has long since been an accepted form of payment for legal overseas online sports betting sites but it has yet to become a part of any U.S. application for gambling on sports. However, this looks like it will be a change seen within the nation as two states are already proposing the idea.

Bitcoin and other coins like it have become a preferred payment option with internet sportsbooks so why wouldn’t states with legal mobile sportsbooks offer it to their players?

Texas & Wyoming Want To Be Crypto Current

In the world of crypto sports betting, Bitcoin is arguably the most secure way to fund sports wagering accounts. Not only are they secure but they are private regarding personal identities and have no fees tacked onto any transaction made.

They are also the quickest way to send and receive money with an account for gambling on sports.

Texas House Bill 2070 had its first reading in the Texas Legislature on Monday where it was referred to the Committee on State Affairs. This bill proposal would make sports wagering in Texas legal and platforms in the state would be able to accept cryptocurrency from sports bettors gambling on the games.

This makes Texas the second state in 2021 to include cryptocurrency in their bill proposal for sports betting legalization.

In Wyoming, House Bill 0133 emulates international online sportsbooks in nearly every way, including the acceptance of Bitcoin as a payment method. With as successful as these operators have been, Wyoming took a page from their playbook and proposed the same model for their sports wagering industry.

Many gamblers in the state use these online sportsbook outlets to gamble on games daily, so a sports betting industry that they are familiar with offered by WY would be a smooth transition.

The proposal has already passed in the House and is now seeking Senate approval, putting Wyoming ahead of Texas for which state could get those first crypto mobile sportsbooks launched in the U.S.

Will More States Hop On The Tails Of The Crypt?

While Texas and Wyoming are looking toward being the more modernized versions of legal sports betting with these crypto current bills on the table, it’s a mixed bag as to whether other states will follow suit. With the fluctuations in value to Bitcoin and other services like it, it’s more of a headache to have this form of payment as an option for sportsbooks as U.S. operators have often cited as their reasoning for not offering it to their customers in the past.

However, if one or both of these states pass legislation for it and it does well, operators in the nation may find that the headache is worth it.

At the moment, Texas and Wyoming are remaining cryptic on how their sports betting legislation will pan out in 2021. Lawmakers will have the final say on how they feel about legalizing sportsbooks and the cryptocurrency that doing so would bring with the passage of these bills.

News tags: Bitcoin | Cryptocurrency | House Bill 0133 | House Bill 2070 | Texas | Wyoming