Dan Wetzel wrote a great piece this week on the possibility of Sports Gambling becoming legal – or at least a state’s decision – by next year. Check it out here: sports.yahoo.com/legalized-sports-gambling-just-got-one-step-closer-162342612.html
We spoke about this on Podcast 98, which you can listen to here: winningcureseverything.com/podcast-98-friday-june-30th-2017/
The Supreme Court, on Tuesday, agreed to hear a case for legalizing sports gambling in the state off New Jersey, which could then legalize it, theoretically, inside all casinos in the United States.
For those of you that live in the Memphis area, could you imagine how awesome a sports book would be at any of the casinos in Tunica, MS?
That place would be absolutely slammed every time there’s a big game or fight. I remember being at Horseshoe Casino back in August of 2016, and I was amazed that there was not one casino in the entire area showing the McGregor/ Diaz fight.
I called everywhere.
It didn’t make sense to me. If Horseshoe or Sam’s Town opened a sportsbook in Tunica, our wives may never see us on the weekends again.
There’s a $150 BILLION illegal sports gambling market in the US alone. A portion of that money goes overseas. Another portion goes to organized crime. Another portion to normal bookies – regular guys – in different cities.
This has always been an argument with the legalize marijuana crowd, but could you imagine what states could do with the tax money from legal sports gambling? In the state of Tennessee alone, the education budget has skyrocketed all thanks to the legalization of a lottery. Think what it could do for a state like Mississippi.
The reason this is happening is New Jersey Governor Chris Christie passed a law in 2012 that legalized sports wagering at the state’s casinos and racetracks. A series of lower courts said the law was in conflict with the 1992 federal law called PASPA – Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act, which prohibited sports wagering outside of Nevada and, to a lesser extent, 3 other states.
The Supreme Court actually agreed to hear the case, and with the momentum from some sports leagues, like the NHL and NFL placing teams in Las Vegas, and Adam Silver of the NBA stating that he thinks it should be legalized, the law has a real chance of passing.
A decision is expected in 2018.
The argument in this case is not to talk about the advantages – like tax revenue for states, or the money no longer helping fund organized crime. Instead, it’s going to focus on whether or not PASPA unfairly grandfathered in four states at the expense of others, which violates state sovereignty protections under the 10th amendment.
