US expectant on potential sports betting legalisation

The Supreme Court could rule this week on the case that may strike PASPA down and allow sports betting to be legalised nationwide.

US.- The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) still has to rule on Christie vs NCAA and the industry remains expectant on what may happen. The tribunal may rule the Professional Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA) of 1992 unconstitutional and allow sports betting to be regulated across the country as soon as this week.

While many states are currently debating sports betting bills, Pennsylvania and West Virginia are set to be the first to legalise the segment alongside New Jersey. The latter foresees a potential to generate US$9 billion in annual revenue, which would be over three times the US$2.68 billion generated by the seven casinos in Atlantic City.

In the meantime, the National Basketball Association and Major League Baseball are lobbying all around the US in order to get a cut of the revenue should sports betting become legalised. However, Sara Slane, senior vice president of public affairs at the American Gaming Association recently assessed: “If we have a shared goal of shutting down the illegal market, taking one percent — which is really 20 percent of revenues after you pay all the bettors and you pay taxes and you pay all the overhead — it’s just not going to be a sustainable business model.”