Sports betting was a multi-million-dollar industry before it was legal nationwide in the United States. Now that it is, the industry is set to explode. And no one is quite sure what all the ramifications will be—for sports teams and fans, or the resorts, casinos and destinations facilitating the bets.

Answering those questions is the impetus behind the first U.S. Sports Betting Forum, taking place Oct. 1 in Louisville, Kentucky.

Part of the 19th-annual Teams Conference (TC), a sports industry conference and expo, the forum is a collaboration between TC and Sports Integrity Global Alliance (SIGA). The goal is to not only ponder the future of sports betting, but also to address how to ensure integrity in the practice across the county. In all, the forum will bring together leagues, players’ unions, betting operators, law enforcement and destination representatives.

Emanuel Macedo de Medeiros, CEO of SIGA and former CEO of European Professional Football Leagues and World League Association, is well versed in how betting operates around the world and doesn’t mince words about what the sports and events industry in United States has before it.

“The challenges ahead are simply enormous, and they better be well prepared for them,” he says. “We are planning a robust discussion on best practices in sports-betting regulation; but, equally, on how the affected stakeholders and the wider industry will be able to maintain the integrity of sport, particularly in the post-PASPA era.”

In May, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the 1992 Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA), which made sports betting illegal. Since the court’s decision, several resorts and casinos have charged ahead, introducing a variety of sports-betting options. Ocean Resort Casino in Atlantic City, a new property featuring 160,000 sq. ft. of event space, concluded its grand opening with actor Mark Wahlberg placing bets on the NFL’s Eagles, Patriots and Browns. Between June and August, New Jersey’s Division of Gaming Enforcement estimated additional sports betting revenue at $7.3 million.

The conference runs Oct. 1–4. “The timing could not be better,” Medeiros says.

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