MOBILE SPORTS WAGERING
the industry – including sports leagues, major media companies, and a large percentage of Americans.
“The proponents of DFS include the extremely rich
and powerful sports leagues, with the sole exception of the NCAA,” he says. “Even the fanatically anti- gambling NFL allows its team owners to be directly involved with DFS operators. Closely aligned with the professional sports teams are large mass media companies, like Disney. It is easy to see why: DFS players watch athletic events to the end, even when it is a blowout. Unlike regular sports fans, DFS participants are more interested in the performance of their individual players than whether their team wins or loses, or even whether it beats the spread.”
Sports wagering Sports wagering is a different story. On a national georgejmclittle/Adobe Stock
level in the U.S., the fight for more legal sports betting is a bit of an uphill climb, at least currently. The state of New Jersey began fighting to make sports wagering legal within its borders in 2011 when residents passed a referendum allowing sports betting at racetracks and Atlantic City casinos. A year later, Governor Chris Christie signed the state’s first sports wagering bill. Several sports leagues sued the state in 2012, arguing that New Jersey’s actions violated the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA), which was passed by Congress and signed into law in 1992.
PASPA was sponsored
by then-New Jersey senator and New York Knicks forward Bill Bradley. Attorneys for the state argued that the law violated the principle of state’s rights by allowing legal sports-betting
exemptions in only a few states (namely Nevada for sports wagering and Montana, Oregon, and Delaware for certain types of sports lotteries and parlays). The law specifically exempts state sports wagering schemes to those a state conducted between 1976 and 1990. New Jersey argued that PASPA, which prohibits “state-sponsored” sports betting, violated the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution because it “commandeered” New Jersey’s legislative authority by effectively requiring it to maintain unwanted state- law prohibitions on sports betting.
After several legal rounds, the 3rd U.S. Circuit
Court of Appeals rejected New Jersey’s efforts to overturn PASPA and allow sports wagering. Gov. Chris Christie has vowed to appeal to the Supreme Court,
32 OCTOBER 2016
but given that the court only hears 1 percent of cases appealed to it, that seems unlikely. Rose believes this is the end of the road for the effort unless another state presses the issue in another circuit court and is able to get a different ruling. Another possibility is always a chance in federal law – something Rose sees as a long shot given Republican control of Congress.
“As it is now, the effort to legalize more sports wagering is dead,” he says.
Despite New Jersey’s setback, many see the success of DFS and mobile sports wagering as a key to more legalization.
“DFS has reinvigorated the domestic debate on legalized sports betting,” Johnson says. “While states like New Jersey unsuccessfully fight to overturn PASPA, the major sports leagues see how DFS magnifies viewership and engagement and are now realizing how beneficial this can be for sports television. The NFL has accommodated sports betting during the London matches and now better understands the dynamics and potential upside … leagues are coming around to the view that sports betting can be a good thing for them and their defense of PASPA is weakening.”
Sports wagering seems more popular than ever and the American Gambling Association estimated $4.1 billion in illegal wagers were made on Super Bowl 50. The group is hoping for a re-thinking of the U.S. ban on adding sports wagering.
“As Americans celebrate a milestone Super Bowl,
they’ll also bet a record amount on the Big Game,” said Geoff Freeman, president and CEO of the AGA. “Just like football, sports betting has never been more popular than it is today. The casino gaming industry is leading the conversation around a new approach to sports betting that enhances consumer protections, strengthens the integrity of games, and recognizes fans’ desire for greater engagement with sports.”
A recent study by Gambling Compliance, a London-
based gaming industry consultant and intelligence service, notes that “the U.S. sports-betting market would be worth up to $11.9 billion in annual gross revenue if permitted to spread nationwide.”
While expansion may not come any time soon, if
sports wagering is expanded in the U.S., mobile will be a major driver of the industry’s growth and continue to do so in most legalized jurisdictions – a parlay the industry hopes will pay off.
Sean Chaffin is a freelance writer in Crandall, Texas. His new book is Raising the Stakes: True Tales of Gambling, Wagering & Poker Faces, available at
Amazon.com. Follow him on Twitter @PokerTraditions.
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