John McCain Says the U.S. Congress Should Have an Open Debate on Sports Betting
Senator John McCain became the latest national politician to endorse legalized sports betting in the United States. McCain, the Arizona Republican who ran as the GOP’s nominee for President in 2008, says he would favor legalized sports betting, though he would not allow such licensed gaming online.
McCain splits hairs over the states which would be allowed to license, regulate, and tax sports betting. He thinks federal laws should be enacted to allow states which have casino gambling at present to allow sportsbooks in those casinos. Then, the individual states could choose whether to legalize sports betting in their states.
Should Be Discussed in Congress
The Arizona senator said such laws at least should be discussed in the halls of Congress. McCain said, “We need a debate in Congress. We need to have a talk with the American people and we need to probably have hearings in Congress on the whole issue so we can build consensus.”
New Jersey Versus Sports Leagues
Sports gambling has become a national issue because of New Jersey’s leaders’ attempts to legalize sportsbook in their state, along with the top American sports associations’ reaction to those attempts. In 2011, New Jersey voters approved legalized sports gambling in their state. That vote prompted the NFL, NBA, NHL, Major League Baseball, and NCAA to file a joint lawsuit to stop New Jersey’s move towards legalization.
New Jersey lost the first round of that case in U.S. District Court, then lost in the Third US Appellate Court afterwards. New Jersey appealed the case to the U.S. Supreme Court, but the highest court in the land declined to hear the case. That decision came in June 2014, so New Jersey repealed its sports betting laws and tried to legalize sportsbooks without regulating them (on the advice of the Appellate Court).
The 2014 attempt to legalize sports betting has resulted in a second appearance in the U.S. District Court of Judge Michael Shipp. Once again, Judge Shipp sided with the sports leagues. At present, New Jersey has appealed to the U.S. Third Court of Appeals, which first suggested New Jersey take this tack.
Why New Jersey Fights
With a cursory glance, someone might say that New Jersey has wasted a lot of time and money on this legal battle. It has forced the issue into the public forum, though.
Several politicians and political activists have commented on the sports gambling laws. The PASPA law at present allows 4 states to have legal sports betting, but bans 46 other states from doing so. A number of respected constitutional lawyers have said the PASPA is unconstitutional, due to violations of the Commerce Clause. The Commerce Clause of the Constitution says the national government should only intervene in interstate commerce in order to foster it. The PASPA law sets up advantages for one state over another–and certainly does nothing to foster interstate commerce.
Inconsistencies among PASPA Proponents
The media attention give the NFL and NBA’s sports betting lawsuit has focused on the issue has revealed a major inconsistency in the sports leagues’ stance. When PASPA was passed in 1992, the leagues said they needed to the law in order to survive and prosper. Without a ban on sportsbooks, the viewing public would come to doubt the integrity of the games–essentially thinking games are fixed. But Las Vegas takes billions of dollars of wagers each year, and that hasn’t hurt the public perception. The league have done just fine these past two decades, living side-by-side with gambling.
No one seriously believes sports betting in New Jersey would undermine the integrity of the game, while sports betting in Las Vegas doesn’t undermine it. The leagues’ stance makes no logical sense. What the NFL and NBA have been getting by on is legal precedent. The judges continue to say that this or that legal technicality causes me to uphold the law, but few think they are really protecting the leagues. Eventually, someone with the authority to strike down PASPA is going to do it. Or perhaps Congress will do it.
Adam Silver’s Stance
Adam Silver, the NBA Commissioner, wrote an op-ed piece for the New York Times saying he supported a federal law legalizing sports betting. In a recent ESPN: The Magazine interview, Silver elaborated on his position. He said, “I have talked to the commissioners in the other leagues about [legalizing sports betting]. I leave it to them to make any public statements they want to make on it. I will say that certainly all of them are interested in having a better understanding of the issue, and I know have assigned people in their organizations to study intensively the issue as well.”
Silver isn’t the only one these days. New Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred told ESPN’s “Outside the Lines” that his #1 challenge will be discussing sports betting with MLB owners. He said the concept of regulated sports gambling deserves “fresh consideration“.
With so many powerful and influential figures showing support for legal sports betting, the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act will not be a federal law for too many more years. Two of the three most important sports commissioners–of the very organizations which wrote the PASPA–are starting to waffle on the federal ban. Now Senator John McCain is voicing his support. No one believes regulated sports gambling will harm the leagues, because all the unregulated sports betting hasn’t yet.
