Inside Asian Gaming

JULY 2018 INSIDE ASIAN GAMING 43 GAMBLING AND THE LAW winners. Some tribes have entered into compacts with their state governments to give the state hundreds of millions of dollars, but only if no new Class III gaming is allowed. The Indian Gaming Regulatory Act divides all gambling into three Classes. Class III is casinos, lotteries, parimutuel betting and sports betting, so some states will be faced with either giving their tribes monopolies on sports wagering or face the loss of very large amounts of money. But, even with a monopoly, tribes that are far from population centers will have to get their states to approve bets by phone and computer. Even though the professional and collegiate sports leagues fought this case to the Supreme Court, they are the immediate big winners. Even without their proposed 1% of handle “integrity fee,” leagues and teams benefit from a tremendous boost in interest in any sport that anyone can bet on. Which means broadcasters of those games will also be able charge more for commercials. Legal bookmakers in other countries will benefit from the increased interest in sports betting. Canadians have been betting on the Kentucky Derby for decades and one night, years ago, I saw the Hollywood Park card club take bets on races about to be run in Hong Kong. The federal Wire Act does not permit such cross-border wagers on races or sports events, but nobody cared. It is far from certain whether Attorney General Jeff Sessions will be so lax in enforcing the Wire Act’s prohibitions against interstate and international bets on National Football League games. Politicians and lobbyists will be big winners, especially on the state level. The NFL is pushing for national regulation. But gambling has always been a state issue, which is why Nevada and Utah can share a border and have completely divergent views. And this Congress never passes any substantive laws. Internet poker will see a boom. President Obama’s Department of Justice and federal courts have ruled that the Wire Act is limited to wagers on sports events and races. But all states, other than Nevada, Delaware and New Jersey, have been slow to recognize that all other forms of gambling can, with a little creative legal work, be conducted with bettors in different states and even nations. Once state lawmakers realize that the door really is wide open, they will look for more online gaming to authorize and tax. LOSERS Nevada casinos, especially the largest sportsbook operator Caesars, will probably Delaware is tipped to become the first state since the PASPA decision to introduce sports betting Which states will be first? My money is on Delaware, since it had straight-up sports betting that it stopped only because federal courts said it was limited to parlay betting under the now-discredited PASPA.