A 6-3 Supreme Court decision has potentially opened the floodgates to sports wagering in the U.S. The ruling dropped the gavel on the 1994 Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act, which prohibited state legislatures from legalizing sports betting. The basis of the ruling had little to do with the merits of sports betting itself. Rather, it was found that Congress had overstepped its authority with the act. Justice Alito said, “Congress can regulate sports gambling directly, but if it elects not to do so, each State is free to act on its own.”
While illegal betting is ubiquitous, Nevada is the only state in which betting on sports other than horse and dog racing is wide open. Now, each state will get to decide how it would like to deal with sports betting. Most believe that very religious and conservative states, such as Utah, will continue prohibition. More socially liberal states are likely to open the books, especially given the potential to reap large tax revenues.
There are a few things to consider about the impact on the status quo in Nevada and for offshore books. One is that some of the states that decide to legalize sports betting will probably screw it up. For example, they could tax it too heavily, and cut the professional leagues in on the action. At that point, the only way for bookies to profit would be to charge ridiculous juice that would give players almost no chance of winning. Sports bettors in states that drop the ball might dabble for a while and get a feel for the game. But they will so rarely win, that they will lose their taste for it. A little investigation could reveal that sports betting is far more favorable to the player in Nevada, and online.
Many believe that even in states that set up reasonable sports betting, new bettors will be more likely to acquire a taste for the game and, at some point, make a sojourn to Las Vegas to enjoy themselves in the Mecca of sports wagering, just as someone who learns to love wine from their local shop might eventually take a trip to Napa.
The other school of thought is that this could be a heavy blow to the Nevada sports betting industry. The reasoning is pretty simple. If you have great wagering options in your home state, provided by a top-notch operation like William Hill, why would you buy a plane ticket to do the same thing hundreds of miles away? The answer to that is probably, “dozens of reasons.” With rare exceptions, such as March Madness, not many people come to Vegas strictly to sports bet or gamble. They come for the elite hospitality industry, glitzy hotels, fantastic food, beautiful people, adult entertainment, children’s entertainment and a long list of other things. That’s why most are optimistic that this ruling will be a boon both for the industry as a whole and in Nevada. Indeed, Latest Casino Bonuses reports that the stocks of companies involved in sports betting are surging.
