Legal Betting.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Supreme Court of the United States overturned Nevada’s monopoly on legal sports betting on Monday, allowing more states to participate and profit from the tax benefits.

A federal law requiring states to prohibit gambling on the results of sporting events was struck down by the court in a 6-3 decision. The Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act was unique in that it did not outright prohibit sports gambling as a matter of federal law, but it did state that states could not legalise it. (When the legislation was enacted in 1992, Nevada was grandfathered in.) Click here for more details.

Sports Betting

The state of New Jersey and then-Gov. Chris Christie opposed the federal ban, claiming that it violated the Tenth Amendment, which forbids federal legislation that force states to carry out federal mandates, according to the Supreme Court. Christie said that the gambling legislation seized control of the states by requiring them to ban sports betting.

New Jersey’s new governor, Phil Murphy, said he was “thrilled” by the decision and that he will work with state legislators to pass a sports betting law “in the very near future.”

“Today’s decision would finally allow approved facilities in New Jersey to accept the same bets that are legal in other parts of the world,” Murphy said.

The problem with the federal rule, Justice Samuel Alito wrote for the majority, is that “state legislatures are placed under direct control of Congress.”

“It’s difficult to imagine a more clear affront to state sovereignty,” he wrote. New Jersey wants to legalise certain types of sports betting and raise the associated taxes. Although proponents of the federal law claim that it discourages betting and the resulting corrupting effect of organised crime on sports, Christie claims that Americans already spend about $150 billion on illicit sports wagering each year.

“I understand that we don’t have much information about organised crime in New Jersey. We do, however, have some information. And the truth is that organised crime profiteers from this on a daily basis “he said

According to the American Gaming Association, Americans will wager $10 billion on the NCAA men’s basketball tournament alone this year, with just 3% of bets made legally in Nevada.

“Today’s decision is a win for the millions of Americans who want to bet on sports in a healthy and controlled setting,” the association said in a statement released Monday. “Today’s decision allows states and sovereign tribal nations to provide Americans with what they want: a free, clear, and responsible sports betting industry.”

The NCAA and major professional sports leagues argued that the law was not illegal because it did not require states to do anything; rather, it prohibited them from making sports betting legal by running sports-betting schemes themselves or allowing casinos to do so.

Officials in New Jersey announced that only such forms of sports betting will be permitted at casinos and racetracks, with a minimum age requirement of 21. Christie said during the January hearing that if the Supreme Court ruled in his favour, the state must act within two weeks. To get good prediction and ideas click here.