Representatives of Major League Baseball and basketball’s NBA have met privately with state legislative leaders in recent months to discuss the distinct possibility that the US Supreme Court will soon abolish a 26-year-old federal prohibition on state-regulated sports betting.
Lobbyists for the sports’ governing bodies, who have been locked in a long-standing legal battle over New Jersey’s efforts to allow athletic wagering at horse tracks and casinos, are preparing for an outcome in which the high court decides in the state’s favour, opening the floodgates to an industry which has long been buried underground in Las Vegas gaming rooms.
Bar-room bookies could quickly become a thing of the past if New Jersey has its way and British bookmaker William Hill is in the perfect position to take a stranglehold on the emerging markets before the opposition can respond.
If the Supreme Court rules that the ban on off-track sports betting is unconstitutional, William Hill already have a partnership in place with Monmouth Park racecourse and is in talks with potential partners across several states. It already has a sizeable presence in Nevada, of course, and the expertise to be taking bets ‘within days’ should the Supreme Court find in favour of New Jersey. All states aren’t the same, however, and the gears of bureaucracy can grind slowly so there would be some areas of the USA where betting would not be allowed for a considerable period of time. That would allow other UK bookmakers with ambitions of conquering America time to get some infrastructure in place.
Of course, there is also the danger that illegal forms of gambling will still flourish and, with much of it currently linked to organised crime, who is to say that any legislature would be adhered to. Then there is legitimate betting concerns based in the USA. US daily fantasy sports operator DraftKings is reported to be actively seeking casino and leisure partners with a view to expanding its future sports betting position. In February, DraftKings made a statement of intent regarding becoming a major player in licensed US sports betting when it opened its first-ever ‘betting office’ in Hoboken, New Jersey.
