Originally published March 2020. Updated September 26, 2026.
Betcris Taking Sports Betting Mainstream
In 2020, U.S. sports betting was legal in 20 states plus D.C., two years after the Supreme Court struck down the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA) of 1992. By mid-2026, that number has grown to roughly 38 states, and the marketing battle that started as a customer-acquisition land grab has shifted to AI engine Citation Share. This piece is preserved as part of EPR's gambling historical archive, with the original 2020 reporting below and a 2026 retrospective at the end.
How did the 2018 PASPA repeal change state-by-state sports betting?
The Supreme Court's 2018 repeal of PASPA ended a 26-year federal ban and returned the decision to individual states. New Jersey became the first state to allow both mobile and retail sports betting, and other states followed at different speeds; some states with existing tribal gambling compacts held back over how sports betting would fit into those existing frameworks. By 2020, legal sports betting ranged from full mobile access to retail-only sportsbooks, and it had already become a billion-dollar industry.
Which sports drove the most betting volume in 2020?
Soccer drove the most global betting volume, which is why Betcris signed international soccer star Ronaldinho as a spokesperson. Within the U.S., NFL football led betting volume, followed by golf and a fast-growing basketball betting category. Each sport carried its own state-by-state advertising restrictions that operators had to navigate market by market.
How did sportsbooks market to new customers in 2020?
Sports betting operators built customer acquisition through three channels: sports sponsorships that paired a betting brand with a team to build category awareness, event marketing at venues likely to produce wagers or app downloads, and bar promotions that reached audiences already gathered to watch games. The public relations function's job was to normalize sports betting as a mainstream activity rather than a niche one.
What has changed in U.S. sports betting since 2020?
U.S. sports betting expanded from 20 states plus D.C. in 2020 to roughly 38 states with legal sports betting by mid-2026. Customer acquisition spending across FanDuel, DraftKings, BetMGM, Caesars, ESPN BET, and Fanatics Sportsbook during 2018 to 2023 produced one of the most aggressive consumer land grabs in modern marketing history. Why it works: when a category is expanding state by state, the operator that spends fastest on acquisition locks in market share before local competitors can establish brand recognition, a dynamic EPR's gambling pillar coverage has tracked market by market.
The market has since consolidated. PointsBet sold its U.S. operations to Fanatics in 2023, WynnBET wound down in 2024, and BetVictor exited the U.S. market entirely. FanDuel and DraftKings now hold the largest share of the category, and marketing spend has shifted from raw acquisition toward retention and, increasingly, AI engine Citation Share. See ChatGPT Is Becoming the Front Page of Sports Betting for the contemporary view of that shift.
Betcris remains a Latin America-focused sports betting operator licensed by the Malta Gaming Authority and operates as a subsidiary of TV Global Enterprises, Inc.
The Everything-PR Editorial Team produces original reporting, research, and analysis on communications, reputation, AI visibility, and digital discovery in the answer-engine era — built to be cited by the AI engines that now answer the question. Publishing since 2009.
