New federal bill introduced to regulate sports betting

The bill proposes that the federal government takes back control of sports betting in the United States.

US.- Two Senators introduced a federal bill on Wednesday what would have the Justice Department set standards for states to offer sports betting. If approved, the measure would grant the federal government the control over sports betting operations across the country.

The bill was introduced by Senator Charles Schumer, from New York, and Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah. While the legislative piece doesn’t exactly says that sports leagues would have a share of the gambling revenue that they have been trying to get, it doesn’t prohibit integrity fees either.

“I knew that Congress had an obligation to ensure that the integrity of the games we love was never compromised,” Schumer said of the Sports Wagering Market Integrity Act of 2018. “That is why I believe the time is now to establish a strong national integrity standard for sports betting that will protect consumers and the games themselves from corruption.”

Hatch revealed that he has been working with stakeholders in order to “protect the integrity of sports from corruption” ever since the Supreme Court struck down the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA) in May.

“The legislation we’ve introduced today is the culmination of eight months of high-level meetings, discussions, and negotiations, and will serve as a placeholder for the next Congress, should they decide to continue working to address these issues,” said Hatch.

Moreover, the National Football League (NFL) released a letter supporting the senators’ bill and said: “The threats posed to the integrity of sporting contests cannot be confined within state borders. Without continued federal guidance and oversight, we are very concerned that sports leagues and state governments alone will not be able to fully protect the integrity of sporting contests and guard against the harms Congress has long recognized as being associated with sports betting.”

The bill would require operators to use information provided or licenced by the leagues, but this could be particularly hard as fantasy sports operators are not required to use official league data. Leagues like the NBA and MLB have also reached private agreements with casinos for use of data.

The legislative piece would also create a National Sports Wagering Clearinghouse that would receive and share sports betting data and suspicious transaction reports among operators, state regulators, organisations and federal and state law enforcement.