The Wedge Index is a new way to rate the gaming accessibility for every US state; the ratings are based on the legal gambling options each state offers. The Index can be used to keep track of the ever-changing landscape across the US when it comes to legalized gambling.
Wedge Index is now the only official quality score for legal gambling in the United States. The score for each US state is scored and updated each week, providing an authoritative rating on which states are embracing the fast-changing legal US betting market.
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The Wedge Index is Useful to Sports Bettors and Journalists
The Wedge Index has not only been featured on ESPN.com/chalk, but it’s also poised to become the standard rating index for sports bettors and gamblers across the country.
The Index is an easily accessible and free resource for the media and news outlets when discussing or writing about the progression of state-by-state online gaming and sports betting.
“This is such a fast-moving industry that there are bits of news which potentially could affect the Wedge Index every single day,” he said. “We’re happy to give journalists access to our free resource which they can use to give a more detailed background to their stories concerning the progress of US gaming and sports betting in their state.”
How the Wedge Index Calculated
The Index ratings are calculated using an expansive set of criteria; the data used includes whether a state has land-based casinos, online gaming, sports betting as well as other factors. The quality and number of sports betting and online gambling brands operating in each state also add weight to a state’s score.
Wedge Index founder David Copeland says, “We think the Index adds some more context to the ongoing debates in the US around online gaming and sports betting.”
“By applying a score for each factor making up the Wedge Index, we can make a good estimation of the relative gambling friendliness of every state. Also, we can look at how approaching changes will affect that.”
The Wedge Index Point Totals at Launch for the Top 10 Gaming Accessible States
Right now, New Jersey is number one on the Wedge Index with a score of 116. The Garden State is followed by Pennsylvania and Colorado. Surprisingly, Nevada is way down the list at number eight, with a score of 41 points.
- New Jersey – 116 points
- Pennsylvania – 86 points
- Colorado – 67 points
- Indiana – 64 points
- West Virginia – 60 points
- Illinois – 55 points
- Nevada – 41 points
- Oregon – 39 points
- Iowa – 35 points
- New Hampshire – 34 points
“New Jersey is number one for good reason,” Copeland points out. “Jersey was the first to market with sports betting and with online casinos, but it has also set a pattern which other states are now following.”
Online sports betting is a prime reason why New Jersey scores the number one position; sports betting Gross Gaming Revenue topped $45 million, with PointsBet and FanDuel responsible for more than $28 million of that total. The nearest competitors for revenue were the Resorts Digital skins from BetStars and DraftKings with $4.8 million.
When it comes to online gaming in New Jersey, the Golden Nugget, PlaySugarhouse, Betfair and BetAmerica skins scored the largest share of the total, 30%, with $26 million.
Borgata and BetMGM seized with 23% of the New Jersey online casino gaming total revenue with more than $20 million, and the Borgata and BetMGM sports betting brands raked in more than $4 million, or around 9% of the market share.
New Jersey’s top position on the Wedge Index will likely be cemented by a proposed measure in the state senate to allow wagers on the March Madness games scheduled for 2025 in Newark.
Reasons why the iconic gambling destination, Nevada, scored at number eight include restrictions on online casino games and sports betting. However, that may be changing soon.
