Eric Ramsey

Eric Ramsey is a journalist and data analyst for the PlayUSA network of sites. He’s been with the group since 2017, initially as a reporter for Legal Sports Report before assuming the role of Managing Editor for Online Poker Report. He comes from a poker background, in fact, formerly on staff at PokerNews and the World Poker Tour.

Most of Eric’s early reporting followed the legislative beat as states outside of Nevada began to legalize sports betting in the wake of the 2018 US Supreme Court decision. He has tracked hundreds of bills across dozens of jurisdictions and listened to countless hours of testimony, and he was in attendance for the first two launches in Delaware and New Jersey. He was also inside the federal courthouse in New Hampshire in 2019 as the US Department of Justice defended its reinterpretation of the Wire Act.

Eric’s analysis has been cited in numerous industry and mainstream publications, and his writing has been widely referenced by legal scholars and policymakers.

Stories about US sports betting and online gambling

Analysis for other publications

  • DCist (Dominique Maria Bonessi) | Sports Betting Becomes Legal in Maryland, Echoes Lessons Learned From Marijuana
    • “Maryland will be an attractive market for operators in large part because regulators have embraced an open market,” Eric Ramsey, an analyst for PlayUSA.com network which includes PlayMaryland.com, said in a statement. “The best predictor of a successful market has been whether it is designed to foster competition among numerous operators, which Maryland has done. A competitive market is more appealing to bettors, which in turn makes the industry a reliable revenue producer for the state.”
  • Investors Business Daily (Adelia Cellini Linecker) | DraftKings Beats, Raises Guidance After Year’s Biggest Events in Online Gambling
    • PlayUSA Network said the 16-day tournament’s handle came in at about $1.6 billion. “Betting on the NCAA Tournament came in on the high end of our projections,” said PlayUSA Network analyst Eric Ramsey. “Enthusiasm in new markets, particularly in Michigan, Tennessee and Virginia, but also in Colorado and Indiana, really helped make March Madness a massive success. It also helped that New Jersey and Nevada, the two largest markets in the U.S., met what were lofty expectations.”
  • The Washington Informer (Stacy M. Brown) | Wanna Bet? Sports Gambling All the Rage in D.C., Nation
    • Both Maryland and Virginia are reportedly planning to launch sports betting this year. “Virginia is well-positioned, not only because it is a relatively large market, but because it will likely capitalize on Washington, D.C., a legal market that has left some bettors frustrated,” Eric Ramsey, analyst for PlayVirginia, told the gaming site, yogonet.com. “In addition to Washington, D.C., Virginia may also draw from Baltimore — at least until Maryland launches sports betting, as well as North Carolina. Having so many large markets so close by has been a boon for states like New Jersey, the nation’s largest sports betting market, and Indiana,” Ramsey stated.
  • The Washington Post (Fenit Nirappil) | A D.C. Sports Betting App Was Supposed to Raise Millions For the City. It’s Off to a Rough Start.
    • For D.C. to meet its revenue goals, analysts say, it must win over the most passionate sports gamblers — and get them to place bets frequently. “Sports betting is not like a lottery game. In order to churn out revenue, you have to be taking a lot of bets,” said Eric Ramsey of LegalSportsReport.com, a sports betting industry site. “There’s not enough people in D.C. to make that happen at $10 or $20 a bet. . . . You need people with $10,000 who want to put that down.”
  • Sportico (JohnWallStreet) | Fox Aligns With The Stars Group, Plans to Facilitate Sports Betting Through Fox Bet App
    • If your finger is on the pulse of the legalized sports betting industry, Wednesday’s announcement wasn’t a surprise. Eric Ramsey (Legal Sports Report) said “this sort of union was the natural next step in the overlap between sports media and sports gambling and it’s likely to be the first of many deals we’ll see like it.”

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Citations in papers and journals

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