Idaho Sports Betting Progress Remains Nonexistent in 2025

More than two months into state legislative sessions, the same annual question remains: Will any progress, at all, be made on Idaho sports betting?

The answer, of course, is in the question itself. The Gem State will adjourn their legislative meetings on April 6, 2025. If they have not proposed anything related to the legalization of sports betting in Idaho by now, it isn’t happening.

Ergo, it isn’t happening.

“There won't be sports betting in Boise or Coeur d'Alene anytime soon,” writes James Bisson of Sportsbook Review. “Idaho might be the furthest state in the country from adopting sports wagering legislation, and with no legislation having been proposed since the 2018 repeal of [the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act], it would take a dramatic swerve for the Idaho legislature to embrace the idea of sports betting With zero bills introduced in 2025, Idaho is still a long, long way from legal sports wagering.”

This “dramatic swerve” is certainly not coming this year. And if past action—or rather, lack thereof—is any indication for the future, this isn’t changing in the near term. 

Is It Time for an Updated Look at Idaho Sports Betting

We recently wrote about the reasons why the Idaho sports betting outlook is so complicated and bleak. The cliffnotes version: concerns about problem gambling, moral and religious opposition, limited infrastructure with which to regulate, and a perceived lack of interest and support among constituents.

Each of these issues is a valid point of contention. But it might be time to revisit the perceived lack of interest among voters. 

Measuring support for Idaho sports betting is difficult when there’s been zero proposals on the table ever since it became legal to do so. Much of this sentiment seems rooted in the distant past. That is basically the last time Idahoans officially weighed in on the subject. Back in 1992, specifically, voters approved a constitutional amendment that deems all gambling "contrary to public policy," with the exception of the state lottery, pari-mutuel betting, and charitable games. (The Idaho State Lottery was created in 1989.)

Given the rise of online sports betting in the United States, it is probably time to get a concrete update on the court of public opinion. And it needn’t come in the form of an official Idaho sports betting bill. A poll with a reflective number of participants (and respondents) would do just fine.    

The Problem with Waiting for a Sports Gambling Survey in Idaho

Of course, an Idaho sports betting poll is more plausible in theory than practice. 

Telltale surveys take money and other resources. Most of the time, these come from online sportsbooks in the United States or big-time universities looking for more information on the market. However, this market interest is predicated on size. The Gem State does not quite pass that sniff test.

At just over 2 million residents, Idaho is the 38th-most populated state in the country. This is not a market that commercial sportsbooks like FanDuel and DraftKings are itching to enter. Especially when it’s devoid of any major pro sports franchises.

Sure, in time, companies could allocate more market research to Idaho’s public sentiment. If and when that happens, though, it’s likely because The Gem State moves up sportsbooks’ list of priorities by default. For the time being, more focus—and, thus, resources—will be devoted to sports betting in Texas, sports betting in California, sports betting in Georgia, sports betting in Minnesota, etc.

On top of that, Idaho is not populated by a bunch of big universities with the financial and personnel bandwidth to explore the market. So without an in-depth look at how voters feel about Idaho sports betting, it seems unlikely the state’s policymakers will just change their tune. 

Is Idaho Really the State Least Interested in Legal Sports Betting?

Not to be lost in all of this: Polls are not simply about shifting political opinion. They are gauges of the overall climate. The results they generate can be critical when determining what the future holds.

To that end, when Bisson writes that “Idaho might be the furthest state in the country” from legalizing some form of sports betting, we can’t technically know for sure. 

Indeed, the complete absence of Idaho sports betting legislation speaks volumes. But it is not necessarily the end-all, be-all. A thorough sports betting poll can help clear that up. Even if it doesn’t push lawmakers to re-evaluate their stances, it should at least capture the pulse of the voting population. That, in turn, could give us a general idea of how far away Idaho sports betting remains.

Make no mistake, the answer is bound to be some variation of “Idaho sports betting is really far away.” But is it as far away, if not outright hopeless, as sports betting in Utah, sports betting in Alaska or sports betting in Hawaii? This is only a question that can be answered by revisiting how the voting population feels about Idaho sports betting—and gambling in general—for the first time in over three decades.  

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