A new rating system, the Wedge Index, tracks and evaluates gaming accessibility for each US state. The Index bases its assessments on the regulated gambling options available to consumers. It’s the official quality score for legal gambling within the United States.
The Wedge Index can be used to keep track of the changes affecting each state across the country as it legalizes various forms of gambling.
What we cover
The Way the Index Works
Each state in the US is rated based on its array of legal gambling options, such as casino gambling, sports betting, online poker, and casino games and mobile sports betting.
The scores are updated every week, providing a comprehensive rating on which states are adjusting best to the fast-changing legal betting market in the United States.
The Wedge Index ratings are calculated according to a huge number of factors including whether a state has brick-and-mortar casinos, online gaming, sports betting, and other factors such as the quality and number of brands operating in the state.
“We think the Wedge Index adds some context to the ongoing talk in the country around online gaming and sports betting,” said Wedge Index founder David Copeland.
“By applying scores to each factor that makes up the Index, we can come up with a good approximation of the gambling friendliness of each state, while also looking at how forthcoming changes could affect that.”
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Ranking Criteria
The Wedge Index uses an algorithm that takes into account many factors to score each state
- Legal land-based Casino options
- Games available within the Casinos
- Ease of access to land-based Casinos for both tourists and residents
- Sports betting apps and within the Casinos
- Retail betting options such as Kiosks and Sportsbooks
- Legal Horse Race betting
- Number of racetracks within a state
- Racinos and other on-track gambling facilities
- Off-track betting for Horse Racing, including mobile apps
- State Lotteries
- Betting apps on Racetrack, Casino, or Retail premises
- Availability of betting apps outside of any retail premises
- Ease of use for betting apps
- Variety of available betting apps
- The online gaming brands available within a state
- Restrictions on any kind of legal gambling
- Qualitative analysis of the gambling options available
- Quantitative analysis of gambling options available
- Size and scale of the market for gambling operators
- Overall satisfaction of residents with their gambling options
New Jersey Tops the Wedge Index
Right now, New Jersey tops the Wedge Index with a score of 116 followed by Pennsylvania and Colorado. This is largely due to the Garden State’s embrace of online gaming and sports betting.
The Top 10 Wedge Index Gambling Accessible States
- 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 a good reason,” observes Copeland. “As well as being the first state with sports betting and also with online casinos, it has forged a trail which other states can now follow.”
Journalists are Encouraged to Use the Index
The Wedge Index has been featured on ESPN.com and is poised to become the standard rating index for gamblers and sports bettors across the country.
“This is such a fast-moving industry that every day, there are pieces of news which could potentially affect the Wedge Index,” Copeland said. “We’re happy to give journalists access to this free resource that they can use to give important background to their stories about sports-betting and gaming in their state.”
The Index is easily used by media and news outlets as a free resource when they need to cover the ever-expanding progress of state-by-state online gaming and sports betting.
