The U.S. Supreme Court could overturn the current betting law and allow sports gambling from coast to coast.
The court is set to hear a legal challenge Monday, the Wall Street Journal reports. As a result of a challenge from New Jersey — home of gambling Mecca Atlantic City — the court could overturn the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act and allow sports betting in most states.
A decision in favor of augmented gambling will not only mean betting on baseball in your local casino but is expected to impact how sports teams from professional leagues to college teams conduct their business and govern themselves.
Legalized sports betting will also immediately add untold billions to the coffers of casinos.
The CEO of the American Gaming Association (AGA) told The Press of Atlantic City that casinos are poised to exploit the gambling opportunity if the court moves in favor of more sports betting.
“This area has been talking about it for years [sic], so there is going to be no debate if we should have it,” Geoff Freeman said. “The casinos are already scouting out where the sports books will be located.”
Advocates of legal sports betting are quick to say that the practice already exists in an illegal form, which generates approximately $150 billion in economic activity for organized crime. According to a financial impact study from Oxford Economics, legal sports betting would create 152,000 jobs and raise $5.3 billion in tax revenue.
Critics of legalized gambling say it normalizes an amusement that becomes an addiction for some and ultimately produces a social cost.
“AGA has long pursued a two-track strategy as a pathway to legalized sports betting,” said Freeman. “Working through the courts and through Congress, I am confident we can overturn this failed federal ban and give American sports fans the ability to legally wager on the teams they follow.”