“The legalization of sports gambling requires an important policy choice, but the choice is not ours to make,” Justice Samuel Alito wrote in the Court’s opinion. For the past half-century, most states have barred sports betting, and in 1992, Congress passed the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act, which makes it unlawful for states to “sponsor, operate, advertise, promote, license, or authorize by law … a lottery, sweepstakes, or other betting, gambling, or wagering scheme based” on competitive sports. Alito concluded that Congress could regulate sports betting directly, but having chosen not to, “each state is free to act on its own.”

A dozen or so states were already considering legalizing sports betting, and this ruling gives them the green light. Then, in 2012, the four major professional U.S. sports leagues, plus the NCAA, filed suit against New Jersey for effectively ignoring PASPA and allowing online sports betting in the Garden State. Writing for the majority, Justice Samuel Alito explained that the 10th Amendment “with[e]ld from Congress the power to issue orders directly to the States.” Known as the anti-commandeering doctrine, this structural constitutional principle holds that Congress may not force states into the service of the federal government. The U.S. Supreme Court ruling in favor of New Jersey on Monday effectively killed the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA), the federal law that essentially limited sports betting to one state for the last 25 years.
The U.S. Supreme Court, in a case brought by New Jersey challenging the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA), which prohibited state-sponsored sports betting outside of four grandfathered states, holds that PASPA is unconstitutional, opening the door for all states to authorize sports betting.