Bookmakers, Analysts Bet On U.S. Supreme Court To Legalize Sports Betting

When a federal appeals court rejected New Jersey’s challenge to a federal ban on sports betting this month, bookmakers and casino operators wondered what might be next.

The state argued that the 1992 Professional Amateur Sports Protection Act, which restricts sports gambling, was unconstitutional because it violated the sovereignty of the state.

“We’ve been tasked with getting through internet games and exchanging bets,” Bill Pasrell, a partner at Princeton Public Affairs Group in Trenton, N.J., said Tuesday during a panel discussion on sports betting and fantasy sports at the Global Games Expo at the Sands Expo Convention Center.

“I’m very excited about what New Jersey represents in this space,” Pasrell said, “and the question of sports betting is not ‘what if’ but ‘when’.”

Pasrell led the campaign to enact a sports betting law in New Jersey. He said 67% of voters approved the bill in November 2011, and quickly followed by “a passive law passed overwhelmingly” in the state legislature.

Pasrell said the National Football League quickly took to court and successfully blocked New Jersey’s enforcement of sports betting laws. He said the U.S. Supreme Court is uniquely positioned to rule in New Jersey’s favor.

He said, “I know I’m in the minority. I look forward to having some very smart lawyers.” 에볼루션 바카라사이트

The National Hockey League, the National Basketball Association, Major League Baseball, and the National Collegiate Athletic Association, as well as the NFL, argue that the law would undermine the integrity of professional sports.

Philadelphia’s 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 that New Jersey’s legalization of sports gambling conflicts with PASPA.

Eamon Toland, chairman of Paddy Power North America, argued that “the only way to eradicate corruption is to have a legitimate sports betting market.” He estimated that illegal sports betting is a $300 billion business in the United States.

“It’s a huge source of money,” Toland said. “We want to make it legal and regulate it. In Europe, we tend to work in partnership with sports leagues. It protects leagues.”

Paddy Power may not be a well-known sports betting brand in the United States. Based in Dublin, Ireland, Paddy Power is a listed bookmaker with a market capitalization of $4 billion.

In Nevada, casino visitors paid more than $3.4 billion for sports last year.

Because of the PASPA, Nevada maintains a monopoly on providing full racing and sports betting. The only states that can offer sports betting are Oregon, Montana and Delaware, which offer parlay cards in NFL games.

“It didn’t have to be that way,” said Art Manteris, vice president of racing and sports book operations at Station Casino Inc.

Manteris said the Las Vegas Hilton opened a satellite sports book at the Flamingo Hilton in 1989. About a year later, he said they got the idea to do it at racetracks across the country.

Laurel Park Racetrack in Maryland wanted to run a book and even started construction, Mantheris said. The PASPA was introduced and closed almost overnight as a law of the land, he said.

Manteris accuses PASPA of creating “out-of-town business.”