Supreme Court rules that ban on sports betting is unconstitutional

REUTERS/Las Vegas Sun/Steve Marcus

On Monday the Supreme Court ruled that the federal ban on sports betting was unconstitutional, opening up a huge potential market for New Jersey and beyond.

• The Supreme Court ruled on Monday that the federal ban on sports betting was unconstitutional.
• The move opens up legal sports betting in New Jersey and beyond as other states can now choose for themselves whether or not to legalize the practice.
• In the majority opinion, Justice Alito wrote, "Congress can regulate sports gambling directly, but if it elects not to do so, each state is free to act on its own."

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The United States Supreme Court ruled in favor of New Jersey on Monday, calling the federal ban on sports betting unconstitutional and opening up the potential for many more states to adopt legalized sports betting.

The decision overturns the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA), which was passed in 1992 and effectively banned sports betting outside of Nevada and a few other states that had been grandfathered in under the law.

On Monday, in a 6-3 decision, the Court ruled that"Congress can regulate sports gambling directly, but if it elects not to do so, each state is free to act on its own." Justice Alito, a New Jersey native, gave the majority opinion, saying, "Our job is to interpret the law Congress has enacted and decide whether it is consistent with the Constitution. PASPA is not."

The news opens up a potential windfall for New Jersey and specifically Atlantic Jersey, with millions of potential bettors now just a short drive away from legalized sports betting.