Is the Nevada Monopoly on Legal Sports Betting in Jeopardy
The U.S. Supreme Court made a recent announcement that it would hear a New Jersey case on a sports betting ban to repeal the law forbidding state-authorized sports betting. There are clear indications that sports betting is moving towards legalization.
The Supreme Court case hearing in October is a big step for sports betting proponents but will those changes be good for Nevada and its sports betting monopoly.
For years, Nevada sports books have been against the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992 (PASPA), the federal legislation that blocks states from allowing sports gambling passed in 1992. New Jersey was slow to oppose the ban in court and lost out their appeal objections due to internal political infighting.
Industry leaders argue that a repeal would hurt illegal offshore betting more than four states where some form of wagering is legal — Nevada, Oregon, Montana and Delaware. The Nevada sports betting industry believes that it would remain the sports betting gold standard if the law is repealed because it already has infrastructure in place to take advantage of sports betting on a national scope. Las Vegas is home to the biggest and best sports betting platform in the world. Vegas is clearly the leader for years to come and will be the industry example for others to follow.
Gamblers and tourists will continue to flock to Las Vegas for the complete experience of betting sports in the beautiful sports books around the city. The large increase in visitors during the Super Bowl or March Madness is a yearly reward for the city due to their entertainment facilities and legalized sports betting. The same reaction will happen in New Jersey, Connecticut and other states who pass legislation if the federal ban on sports betting is overturned by the Supreme Court.
Even with the spread of commercial and tribal gambling in other states, it will be hard to beat the total Las Vegas experience. Should sports betting go national, just about everything will flow through Las Vegas. Sports betting odds would still originate from the local sports book consultants and the rest of the country would continue to turn to Las Vegas for its wealth of knowledge about the industry and create mutual state partnerships.
There are three possible outcomes to the Supreme Court’s decision of the New Jersey case. The court could uphold the lower-court finding which would change nothing and is the odds on favorite so the court can further push the issue down the road for future legislation.
The hopeful decision for gaming officials is that the prohibition on sports gambling is struck down as unconstitutional thereby removing the ban and allowing states to legalize sports betting if they choose.
The court says the grandfathering of Nevada sports betting under the law is unconstitutional under the “equal sovereignty doctrine” thus banning sports betting everywhere, including Nevada. That third outcome is the ultimate downer for the industry and not a likely decision which would produce lawsuits in the court for years to come with delays, postponements and injunctions with legal roadblocks. Something to avoid at all costs.
The “equal sovereignty doctrine” is a principle that the federal government must treat states equally. It came into play when parts of the Voting Rights Act were struck down in 2013. But this doctrine is not a usual policy of any court ruling and the subject matter is not a significant part of the federal laws from the constitution but rather a business decision that New Jersey needed to revive their flagging gaming industry, especially in Atlantic City.
New Jersey just got negligent from their blunders in 1992 and now they got lucky that the Supreme Court actually agreed to hear their case after all these years of failing lower court rulings. Hopefully, a favorable court ruling is on the way. If not, it looks like Vegas continues their monopoly for another five years until sports betting is finally legalized.
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