David Purdum and Ryan Rodenberg, ESPN
Part 8 looks at how nationwide sports betting in all 50 states could happen 2-3 years from now.
Three months have passed since the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the federal sports betting ban.
Several states — New Jersey and Delaware most notably — have moved quickly to embrace legal sports gambling. Congress, however, has only taken baby steps on the issue, despite receiving the green light from the Supreme Court.
“Congress can regulate sports gambling directly, but if it elects not to do so, each State is free to act on its own,” wrote Justice Samuel Alito on May 14.
The House Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, Homeland Security and Investigations is considering holding a hearing on sports betting in September, but sources tell ESPN that there is skepticism that it ever materializes. The House Judiciary Committee scheduled-and promptly postponed-a hearing on sports betting in June.
Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) alluded to possible legislation days after the Supreme Court’s ruling, too. But a game-changing federal law seems anything but imminent at this point.
What would it take for Congress to actually delve into sports betting now that the long-simmering Supreme Court case is over? Tom McMillen, a former NBA player and Congressman from Maryland, has an idea, and no one is going to like it.
“You will see federal intervention” if there is a point shaving scandal, according to McMillen.
Indeed, a number of experts interviewed by ESPN over the course of the past two years suggested that a major betting scandal may be the most forceful catalyst prompting Congress to act.
The description below represents an entirely fictional, yet possible, near-future scandal that could compel Congress to create a federal framework for legal sports betting, replacing the state-by-state activity percolating in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision with a national model that would change everything.
Rest is here…
