by Ryan Rodenberg, ESPN
U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch – then the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York – and lawyers for the NFL have both said in legal arguments over the past decade that they consider sports betting as a game of skill, an important legal distinction that could shape the expanded legalization of wagering on American sports.
According to the documents, discovered by ESPN through searches of public records, both the Justice Department and NFL outside counsel made statements in support of traditional sports gambling as being skill-based in legal proceedings in 2013 and 2003. respectively. Skill-based contests are more likely to be permitted under federal and state law.
Nearly a decade ago, a federal Internet gambling law carved out exceptions for what congressional lawmakers described as games based on “skill.” That language has also been a linchpin in arguments used by opponents of legalized sports betting, historically recognized as a game of chance.
In 2013, Lynch wrote in United States v. DiCristina:
“Sports betting … involves ‘substantial [not slight] skill.’ Sports bettors can employ superior knowledge of the games, teams, and players in order to exploit odds that do not reflect the true likelihoods of the possible outcomes.”
Lynch pointed to prominent Las Vegas sports bettor and businessman Billy Walters as an example of sports betting being skill. Lynch also explained how certain sports bettors move betting lines, a skillful technique analogous to bluffing in poker:
“While a sports bettor cannot [legally] influence the outcome of a game, sports bettors can and do influence the ‘betting line’ or ‘point spread’ in order to improve their odds of making a successful bet,” she wrote. “Specifically, a gambler intending to make a large bet on one team may first place one or more smaller, strategic bets on the other team to move the betting line and make it more favorable for the ultimate intended bet.”
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