Like many city dwellers, Steve Cimino does not own a car. So in early 2021, when Virginia launched online sports gambling, the writer from Northeast Washington came up with a plan. On Saturdays, he could chart a 15-mile bike ride that would take him across the Potomac River into Arlington. Once across the state line, he would pull the bike over — often stopping to sit on the same ledge just off a bike path, right outside the Air & Space Forces Association Headquarters — place his bets on his phone and then start back home.

“I can get exercise, and I can place bets,” Cimino told his wife. “Everybody wins.”