I don’t know what you think was gained by this argument.

Sports betting was effectively illegal, and a number of people lobbied aggressively and pursued lawsuits to overturn the status quo (de facto federal ban) then a huge number of efforts to permit it at the state level in a bunch of states.

All of these efforts are completely adequately described as “legalization” efforts.

Yes, we can change the new status quo again. And we should.