West Virginia evaluates sports betting
Sports betting industry could also land in West Virginia if the federal government legalises operations.
US.- West Virginia has become the latest state to show interest in legalising sports betting operations, although the industry must be approved at federal level first. The state’s Senate will begin debating a potential bill later this week, showing that the market could be ready to operate sports betting platforms once major legalisation arrives in the USA.
According to the official West Virginia press, the sports betting bill has achieved the support of the State’s Lottery Commission. Under the bill, the official lottery authority will be in charge of sports betting operations, although there is another proposal that the Senate will discuss within the following months.
“The Legislature finds that illegal sports wagering channels operating throughout the United States pose a critical threat to the safety and welfare of the citizens of West Virginia, and creating civil and criminal penalties to prosecute illegal operators while transferring this black market demand into a secure and highly regulated environment will protect the public and positively benefit state revenues and the state’s economy,” states the bill.
PASPA, a sports protection act that was passed in 1992, prevents states from offering gambling lines on sports. Nevada, Oregon, Delaware and Montana were granted special exemptions as all four of those states were offering some variation of sports lotteries back in 1992. New Jersey has taken the case against PASPA to US Supreme Court, which is set to release a final resolution in a few months’ time.
