Inside Asian Gaming

JULY 2018 INSIDE ASIAN GAMING 41 GAMBLING AND THE LAW L ATE last year, I wrote about the then-pending sports betting case in an article titled “The Most Important Case of the Century.” It turned out to be even bigger than that. The major holding is that states are now free to legalize sports betting, or any form of gambling they want. But the opinion was much bigger than that. For the first time in American history, the US Supreme Court expressly held that the federal government cannot order states, or state officials, to do anything. The federal government still has enormous power but Congress, federal courts, administrative agencies and even the President can only take action against individuals, not local governments. And the federal government only has powers that were given it in the US Constitution. During the American Revolution, 13 colonies succeeded in winning their For the first time in American history, the US Supreme Court expressly held that the federal government cannot order states, or state officials, to do anything. independence from the king of England. They were now independent sovereign nations, with unlimited powers within their own borders. But they realized they could not survive militarily against the great world powers of that era, England, France and Spain, so they created a federation for their common defense. The states gave up some, but by nomeans all, of their sovereign powers when they created the federal government. The United States is a government of “enumerated powers,” meaning that if it is not in the US Constitution, the power remains with the states. As Justice Alito wrote, “And conspicuously absent from the list of powers given to Congress is the power to issue direct orders to the governments of the States.” The problem arose because Congress passed a ridiculous law, the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA), which prevented any state from legalizing any form of sports betting it did not already have in 1991. Nevada and a dozen other states had some form of sports betting, including lottery parlays, jai alai and Calcutta auctions, which they could continue. But every other state was frozen out.