On Monday, the United States Supreme Court overturned a 25-year-old ban on sports gambling, effectively allowing each state to make their own laws regarding wagering on sports.

This set the sports world on fire. Almost immediately, bills were introduced in states across the country in an effort to legalize sports gambling. Per the Des Moines Register, State Rep. Jake Highfill of Johnston already has plans to introduce a proposal in January.

There are, of course, positives and negatives that come with the overturn on the sports gambling ban. But from a sports perspective, the positives overwhelmingly defeat the negatives.

I’m not going to drone on about how great it will be for the state of Iowa to use the money for good — don’t get me wrong, I think that part is great — I’m speaking strictly from a sports perspective.

The overturn on the ban is one of the greatest things to happen in the sports world… Ever.

I was listening to The Sports Fanatics on KXNO radio this week, and Chris Williams summed it up nicely.

“This is the same thing as fantasy football 15-20 years ago,” Williams said. “The NFL exploded when fantasy football became easy to use on the internet… fantasy football in its purest form is a form of gambling.

“People watch the NFL differently now.”

Williams nailed it. Unlike the MLB and NBA, the NFL’s schedule makes playing fantasy sports easy, even for casual fans. You can check your lineup once a week and be fine. The rise of fantasy sports in the 1990s and 2000s coincided with the NFL’s popularity boom.

Of course, this became something of a joke in recent years as fans would tweet at athletes about their fantasy performances. “Nobody cares about your fantasy team” became a kind of rallying cry for fans, coaches and players who wanted to focus on the action on the field.

But make no mistake — this will draw in casual fans by the thousands, increasing visibility for issues in the realm of sports and also highlighting its beauty.

Even if you weren’t a diehard fan of a certain team, fantasy football gave you a reason to watch every Sunday. I think the same thing can happen for the MLB, NHL, NBA and college athletics as soon as sports gambling is made legal here in Iowa.

Interest in sports will go up. Events like the NCAA Tournament, which already sees a ton of money wagered on it, will become even more intriguing.

Professional baseball has struggled slightly in recent years with attendance and viewership. MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred has made it a goal to improve pace of play, as one of the common critiques of the game is that it’s played too slow, with too much downtime between the action.

Now? Games will be far more interesting to fans who have money on the action, leading to increased viewership and, hopefully, a better product on the field as leagues focus on improving themselves instead of adapting to draw more eyes.

It’s been estimated by the American Sports Betting Coalition that $58 billion will be spent wagering on football games this year, with only $2 billion of that being wagered legally.

One of the potential downsides that gets mentioned frequently is that players, coaches and officials could be compromised. It’s happened before in professional and collegiate sports — people bet on games in which they’re involved, and they ensure they make money instead of doing their job fairly.

But what gets forgotten is that that has already been a risk. As the American Sports Betting Coalition showed, billions of dollars were already being wagered on sports. Now it’s open, and less money will be exchanged under the table. If anything, overturning the federal ban will help with transparency and corruption.

The last thing I’ll touch on is the impact on Iowa State athletics. The Iowa State football team was incredible against the spread last year.

That will surely make for some interesting lines for Iowa State games next year, and it could draw more eyes toward Iowa State games. On the other hand, the men’s basketball team was 11-17-1 against the spread per VegasInsider.

But all in all, the ban being overturned is a good thing for the sports world. It will change how sports are viewed for a long time, and that’s a change the world of sports desperately needed. For the first time in a long time, casual fans have a reason to care about sports before the playoffs, and that will make the product on the field even better.