The Pennsylvania House Gaming Oversight Committee has begun hearings on a resolution introduced by Rep. Rob Matzie to call on the U.S. Congress to repeal the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992 (PASPA) to allow states to legalize sports betting within their borders.
“Sports betting, or sports book, in the United States totals an estimated $400 billion per year, with only 1 percent taking place in legal form,” Matzie told the panel. “Fantasy sports betting draws in an estimated 57 million participants. People are wagering on sports every day, in many different ways. The vast majority, however, are not doing it legally.”
Matzie reportedly has bipartisan support for his resolution. He told the panel that now is the time to challenge the law, since resistance to sports betting among the professional leagues is declining. National Basketball Association President Adam Silver has come out in favor of legalization, and Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred is open to considering it. Only the NFL remains staunchly opposed to legal sports betting.
A spokeswoman for the American Gaming Association, in an interview with the PennLive.com website, said that continued opposition from the powerful NFL is one of the reasons 2016 may not be the year to go after repeal of PASPA. “In order to really move something through, you really have to have the leagues at the table,” said the AGA’s Sara Rayme. “We do think that there’s a shift in their position on that issue, so I would say that this is probably going to be a three-to-five year proposition.”
She added that the lawsuit filed by the state of New Jersey asserting its right to legalize sports betting without regulation by the U.S. government could change the timeline. If New Jersey wins, she said, “you would essentially have unregulated sports betting occurring in the state, and I do think that could be an impetus for Congress to take action.”
