A Blog About Online Gaming and Entertainment Regulations

By all accounts, a bill for legalized sports betting in D.C. (“The Sports Wagering Lottery Amendment Act of 2018”) was well-received last week by the City Council, but the byzantine process by which it might become a law leaves plenty of opportunities for mischief.  On Wednesday, Councilman Jack Evans introduced legislation with the support of… Read More

It’s a showdown in Texas over the legality of daily fantasy sports (“DFS”) contests under Texas law. But it’s a showdown only for show, it seems. The drama over the legality of DFS in Texas began on January 19, 2016, when Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton unilaterally issued an opinion letter declaring fantasy sports illegal… Read More

With online sports betting and gaming now legal in New Jersey, many businesses are seeking to jump into this flourishing industry. However, the regulations require that any company seeking to offer this kind of entertainment be associated with a land-based casino in the state, and that kind of association requires a specific legal status. Companies… Read More

Now that states have the right to decide whether to allow sports betting within their borders, the floodgates have opened: numerous states are passing bills so that this form of entertainment can start generating revenue within their borders. Because many consumers will want to engage in this kind of online gaming on their mobile devices,… Read More

Following the Supreme Court decision to overturn The Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA) in Murphy v. NCAA, in June Delaware became the first state to take advantage of the new ruling. Delaware governor John Carney placed the state’s first legal single-game bet: $10 on the Philadelphia Phillies in their game against the Chicago… Read More

The recent University of Nevada Las Vegas Institute on Gaming Regulation’s Understanding Sports Betting seminar included presentations by professors from UNLV, practicing attorneys in the field, sports book operators, and regulators from the Nevada Gaming Control Board, who provided a wide range of viewpoints on the ins-and-outs of sports betting regulation. The one topic on… Read More

On May 14, 2018, the Supreme Court struck down the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (“PASPA”), clearing the way for states to legalize sports gambling. In its wake, many states are now rushing to do just that. Currently fourteen states have legislation pending that would authorize some degree of sports wagering. An additional five… Read More

In their recent article published in the George Washington Law Review, firm founder Jeff Ifrah and associate David Yellin describe the three immediate effects of the groundbreaking Supreme Court decision in Murphy v. NCAA: “this ruling immediately legalizes sports betting in New Jersey, opens up a logjam that states, casinos, and foreign sportsbooks have been hoping… Read More

Anticipating a positive ruling from the Supreme Court in Christie vs. NCAA, legislators in Indiana have introduced a new sports wagering bill.  Unfortunately, the bill includes a previously unseen poison pill in the form of a 1% “integrity fee” payable to the governing sports bodies: A sports wagering operator shall remit to a sports governing… Read More