The United States Supreme Court will hear arguments this fall in the case of Christie v The National Collegiate Athletic Association as to whether sports betting should be left up to the
states or should remain illegal in every state except for Nevada. In 1992, Congress passed and the President signed into law the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act, which bars states that then had existing prohibition on sports betting from changing those laws to allow betting.
Nevada was and remains the only state that allows sports betting, but other states, such as New Jersey, are wanting to get into the game. Opponents of the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act argue that Congress passed an unconstitutional act in violation of the Tenth Amendment, which states: “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.”
This case could change the landscape on sports betting and could be the Supreme Court’s Thrilla in Manilla.