New Jersey has spent years and millions of dollars in legal fees trying to legalize sports betting at its casinos, racetracks and former racetracks. The law also doesn’t cover animal races, such as horse racing, which many states already allow. Nevada is the only state where a person can wager on the results of a single game, though the law doesn’t cover wagering between friends. The 1992 law at issue in the case bars state-authorized sports gambling with exceptions for Nevada, Montana, Oregon and Delaware, states that had approved some form of sports wagering before the law took effect. The American Gaming Association estimates that Americans illegally wager about $150bn on sports each year. Outside court, however, leaders of all but the NFL have shown varying degrees of openness to legalized sports gambling. In court, the NBA, NFL, NHL and Major League Baseball had argued that New Jersey’s gambling expansion would hurt the integrity of their games. New Jersey said the constitution allows Congress to pass laws barring wagering on sports, but Congress can’t require states to keep sports gambling prohibitions in place.Īll four major US professional sports leagues, the NCAA and the federal government had urged the court to uphold the federal law. More than a dozen states had supported New Jersey, which argued that Congress exceeded its authority when it passed the 1992 Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act, barring states from authorizing sports betting.

The court’s decision came in a case from New Jersey, which has fought for years to legalize gambling on sports at casinos and racetracks in the state. Paspa is not,” Justice Samuel Alito wrote for the court. Our job is to interpret the law Congress has enacted and decide whether it is consistent with the constitution. Congress can regulate sports gambling directly, but if it elects not to do so, each state is free to act on its own. “The legalization of sports gambling requires an important policy choice, but the choice is not ours to make.

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