On Monday (May 14), the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the federal ban on sports gambling is unconstitutional in its New Jersey case.
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This 25-year-old federal law prohibited sports betting on college and professional sports outside of Nevada. The case known as Murphy v. NCAA was ruled 7-2 and now opens the door for other states, particularly in regards to legalizing sports betting as a way to generate government revenue.
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This all stems from a 2014 legal battle with New Jersey and the 1992 Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA), which banned wagering on single sporting contests except in Nevada, according to Huffington Post.
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In 2012 and 2014, New Jersey passed laws to legalize sports gambling but it was blocked by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit, which ruled PASPA prohibited states from allowing gambling on sports. New Jersey came back with a lawsuit claiming it was unlawful for the federal government to enforce regulation of activities that Congress wouldn’t police itself.
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New Jersey wrote in its opinion in court: “Congress can regulate sports gambling directly, but if it elects not to do so, each State is free to act on its own. Our job is to interpret the law Congress has enacted and decide whether it is consistent with the Constitution. PASPA is not.”
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New Jersey’s new sports gambling law will go into effect almost immediately. The new decision opens the opportunity for other states to legalize the practice.
