A new rating system of gaming accessibility for each US state based on the regulated gambling options available to consumers called Wedge Index has been launched.
The Wedge Index was featured on ESPN.com/chalk and is set to become the standard ratings index for sports bettors/ gamblers in the country.
The Wedge Index will be used to keep a running score of the changes affecting every state across the US when it comes to gaming.
The Index is easily accessible for news and media outlets to use as a free resource when talking about the burgeoning progress of state-by-state sports-betting and online gaming.
The Wedge Index score is calculated according to a large number of criteria including whether a state has land-based casinos, sports-betting, online gaming and other factors such as the number and quality of brands operational in the state.
“We think this adds some further context to the ongoing debates in the US around sports-betting and online gaming,” says Wedge Index founder David Copeland.
“By according scores for each factor that makes up the Index, we can make a good approximation of the relative gaming friendliness of each state and also look at how forthcoming changes will affect that.”
As it stands, New Jersey tops the Wedge Index list with a current score of 116 followed by Pennsylvania and Colorado.
The Wedge Index top 10 gaming accessible states and points totals at launch
- 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 reason,” says Copeland. “As well as being the first to market with sports-betting and also with online casino, it has blazed a trail which other states are now following.”
“This is such a fast-moving space that there are pieces of news which could potentially affect the Wedge Index every day,” he said. “We’re delighted to be giving journalists access to a free resource which they can use to give some background to their stories about the progress of US sports-betting and gaming in their state.”