A Gamble on Sports: States looking to close budget gaps with sports-betting revenue may be disappointed.

AuthorBrainerd, Jackson
PositionGAMBLING

You bettor believe it.

The U.S. Supreme Court's ruling last spring in Murphy v. National Collegiate Athletic Association paved the way for states to authorize gambling on sports events, booking the topic a slot in future headlines for months to come. New gaming-related opportunities and puns abound.

The court's decision was long in the making.

Congress passed the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act, widely known as PASPA, in 1992. It prohibited states from legalizing sports-betting operations, but allowed states already offering sports betting or related games (Delaware, Montana and Oregon) to maintain their current operations. Other states had the opportunity to jump in and offer sports betting at the time, but all declined. For the last 26 years, only Nevada has offered full-fledged sports betting.

When New Jersey passed a law to repeal the state's ban on sports betting in 2014, the move was challenged by the NCAA and a handful of major pro sports leagues as a violation of PASPA. The case made its way to the Supreme Court, which ruled 6-3 that provisions of the act violated the Constitution's anti-commandeering rule. That rule prevents Congress from compelling states to adopt or enforce federal law.

States have since rushed to get in on the action, passing legislation to allow sports betting. Delaware, Mississippi, New Jersey and West Virginia have now joined Nevada in offering sports betting at their commercial casinos. In Delaware, the legal and regulatory framework was already in place; it just needed the governor's approval. Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island have also enacted measures legalizing sports betting and are expected to begin offering it soon. In total, 21 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico proposed or enacted measures in 2018 to either legalize and regulate sports betting or form commissions to study the issue.

Most of the states leading the way enacted legislation before the Supreme Court decision, allowing them to get a jump on expanded gaming opportunities. Because some of the bills were relatively bare-bones and merely instructed a regulatory authority to investigate sports-betting, several states still must develop rules or pass additional legislation to flesh them out. But the measures in a few states are more comprehensive in their regulatory scope and provide useful insights into how states are approaching the issue. In general, states are grappling with the following policy concerns.

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