The International Center for Gaming Regulation at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas is organizing a forum of state regulators to discuss and advise on national sports betting policy.
Stakeholders include state gaming and lottery regulators, tribal regulators, state and federal law enforcement, sports leagues and athletic conferences and sports betting operators.
Coordination the group’s formation is Jennifer Roberts, the center’s associate director and an adjunct law instructor at UNLV’s William S. Boyd School of Law. She said the forum plans to meet on a regular basis to provide reports and updates on sports betting in legal jurisdictions and to promote dialogue and guidance that may benefit the sports betting industry.
“The primary goal is to ensure that sports betting in the U.S. is conducted with integrity free from criminal and corruptive elements,” Roberts said.
The group comes together at a time when the legalization of sports betting is spreading nationwide and fears of federal intervention are rife within the industry. It’s a concern shared as well by most agencies charged with regulating gaming and betting at the state level.
Those concerns have become heightened in the wake of a hearing before a subcommittee of the U.S. House of Representatives in late September that appeared weighted toward the need for federal regulation to protect sports from the risks of gambling-related corruption.
In the Senate, Minority Leader Charles Schumer of New York has proposed a policy checklist for guiding federal regulation, and Orrin Hatch of Utah has said he plans to introduce such a bill.
