With the results of the election now known, it’s time to ask an important question. What will the changes to the legislative and executive branches mean for sports gambling?
In 2018, the Supreme Court sent the issue back to the states. The vast majority have embraced legalized wagering. Congress has taken no action to regulate the industry.
On one hand, Republican politicians want less regulation. On the other hand, Republican politicians resist the embrace of traditional vices.
Earlier this week, president-elect Donald Trump appeared on the SiriusXM Let’s Go! podcast with Jim Gray and Bill Belichick. Trump was asked about the potential for corruption as a result of legalized gambling.
“Well, there’ll be corruption, and the only question is will it be massive corruption or will it be, you know, regular, standard corruption?” Trump said. “But there’s gonna be corruption. And we’ll see how it works out.
“It’s very interesting that they’ve gone from one extreme to the other. They kept Pete Rose out of the Hall of Fame for, I mean, like a ridiculous — in my opinion — a ridiculous situation. It was — I mean, I grew up watching that guy. He was great. But, no, I think you’ll have — you’re gonna have corruption. When you have gambling, you have a lot of it.”
So what will he do about it? That question wasn’t asked.
The industry continues to be in a wild-west phase. Although legislation has been introduced at the federal level, it hasn’t gone anywhere. Whether it’s limits on advertising, restrictions on the sports book-sponsored touts, types of wagers, or other potential efforts to protect consumers, Congress hasn’t done anything.
What Congress will do next remains to be seen. The industry will lobby aggressively against it.
Whether “major” or “regular, standard,” corruption is corruption. Will the federal government allow it? Will solutions to corruption come only through the judicial branch, via civil litigation or criminal prosecution?
Scandals have happened in other sports. It’s just a matter of time before a major scandal happens in pro football. When it does, there will be a reaction aimed at preventing it from happening again. Before it does, legislation and/or regulation seem to be unlikely.