NCAA pushes for federal sports betting legislation
The collegiate sports body NCAA is in favour of a federal sports betting legislation and Senators are already collaborating to make it happen.
US.- Sports betting became legal in the US in May 2018, after years of fights between states and sports leagues. Now that the sports betting market is legal nationwide, the collegiate sports body NCAA wants a federal sports betting legislation.
New York Senator Chuck Schumer and Utah Senator Mitt Romney are collaborating on a federal sports betting legislation, according to ESPN. The legislation would be similar to the Sports Wagering Market Integrity Act, which was introduced in December 2018 by Schumer with retired Orrin Hatch. However, that bill did not have the desired effect.
The NCAA is actually in favour of prohibiting betting on collegiate sports, and for that to be in federal legislation. However, there are multiple legal questions around such a move.
NCAA says it is daunting to have multiple regulations in the US
NCAA VP of Hearing Operations, Naima Stevenson Starks, said that the NCAA is absolutely supportive of federal regulation. “It’s fairly daunting to think that every state would have a different set of regulations. Having some minimum standards, we are very supportive of and have been an active proponent of.”
”The Supreme Court, in its decision, has made it somewhat challenging for a complete carve-out on college athletics to not be something that would be legally challenged at the end of the day,” Starks said. “Certainly, if there were the ability to have some kind of carve-out on college athletics altogether, that would be something that I know most would be supportive of. Whether or not that would be something that the proposed federal legislation would do, given that states are already doing it, I think that might be a challenge for the bill potentially get passed, which is the ultimate goal.”
