Sports & Entertainment Beat

This post was originally published on GSB's website as a GSB Client Update on August 13, 2018.

Is Sports Betting Legal?

Until a recent Supreme Court decision addressed the question, the answer was fairly straightforward: sports betting was allowed in only four states. All other states were prohibited from legalizing sports betting.

On May 14, 2018, in Murphy v. NCAA, the Supreme Court struck down the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (“PASPA”) on grounds that the Constitution prevents Congress from “commandeering” the legislative decision of states.        

Benjamin Riesenberg is a former Garvey Schubert Barer legal extern who worked out of the firm’s New York office. He was a law student at Brooklyn Law School.

As the popularity of fantasy sports grows, so do the legal issues surrounding the industry.  The main legal challenges facing fantasy sports have been centered on the issue of whether pay-to-play fantasy sports contests constitute illegal gambling.  In 2006, Congress passed The Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (“UIGEA”), which created certain guidelines for fantasy sports.  For a pay-to-play fantasy sports contest to be legal under the UIGEA, the fantasy sports game must have a result that is predominantly based on the knowledge of participants as opposed to mere chance.