In a landmark decision delivered on Monday 14th May 2018, the United States Supreme Court struck down a federal law that has banned gambling on sporting events in most states.
This ban on sports betting is currently found in the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act, which was enacted in 1992 and which prohibits almost all U.S. states from authorizing sports betting. However, the Supreme Court has declared that such law constitutes an unconstitutional exercise of federal power.
The legalisation of sports betting was instigated by New Jersey, which repealed its gambling ban and attempted to legalize sports betting within the state. This ruling takes the U.S. a step closer to legal sports betting in numerous states, possibly even nationwide. One has to wait and see whether congress shall regulate sports betting directly or whether each State shall be allowed to act on its own.
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