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Supreme Court Strikes Down Federal Law Prohibiting Sports Gambling (espn.com)

Posted by msmash on from the new-rules dept.

The Supreme Court has struck down a 1992 federal law that effectively prevented most states from legalizing sports betting, clearing up a legal gray area and opening a door for state governments to join in what has become a lucrative industry. From a report: The court ruled 6-3 to strike down the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PAPSA), a 1992 law that barred state-authorized sports gambling with some exceptions. It made Nevada the only state where a person could wager on the results of a single game.

States that want to offer legal sports betting may now do so, and New Jersey plans to be first. Delaware, Mississippi, New York, Pennsylvania and West Virginia are among the states expected to quickly get into the legal bookmaking game.

7 of 171 comments (clear)

  1. Another one bites the dust... by b0s0z0ku · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Good. Another law regulating harmless activities between consenting adults bites the dust...

    1. Re:Another one bites the dust... by Gravis+Zero · · Score: 5, Informative

      Good. Another law regulating harmless activities between consenting adults bites the dust...

      Gambling doesn't occur in a vacuum.

      Studies: Casinos bring jobs, but also crime, bankruptcy, and even suicide

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    2. Re:Another one bites the dust... by Obfuscant · · Score: 5, Insightful

      But studies also show that you can't legislate morality, or at least you shouldn't.

      Every law deals with morality. Even the ones against murder. "Thou Shall Not Kill" is a moral statement. So is "don't steal". What one can do in a contractual framework, ditto.

      The sports gambling laws are there because gambling on sports games leads to attempts to rig those games. Point shaving, for example. This is not a hypothesis, it is why the laws were created in the first place. History shows it happens.

      Those who forget history tend to repeat it.

    3. Re:Another one bites the dust... by lexman098 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      It sounds like you don't really understand gambling addiction. It's a mental condition similar to alcoholism. I don't think we should outright ban it (or alcohol), but it's naive to dismiss those negatively affected by it saying "meh, no one put a gun to your head".

  2. New Jersey was self-inflicted by Actually,+I+do+RTFA · · Score: 4, Interesting

    States that want to offer legal sports betting may now do so, and New Jersey plans to be first

    The law that was just overturned was written in such a way so that NJ could get exempted along with Nevada (so could any other states that wanted to), they just had to fill out paperwork/legalize it before a deadline. It was obvious Atlantic City would want sports betting, so the federal law assumed NJ would make it legal. But the state legislature really fell down, and hence for 26 years it's been trying to undo that mistake.

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  3. The law was kind of sneaky by rsilvergun · · Score: 4, Insightful

    it didn't ban sports gambling, it make it illegal for the States to lift their existing bans. That way Nevada (who lobbied for the law) could keep right on gambling.

    I'd love to see gambling fully legalized. The Casino operators are crazy rich and use their money to buy all kinds of influence. It'd be nice to see some of that power broke up even a little bit.

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  4. Damn it, I betted against this by jfdavis668 · · Score: 4, Funny

    My hobby. Betting on the outcome of Supreme Court cases.