Frank Pallone gives up on federal sports betting bill

Congressman gives up on federal sports betting bill

New Jersey Rep. Frank Pallone has said that he will no longer work to pass a bill he authored that would provide federal regulations for sports betting.

Congressman gives up on federal sports betting billAccording to Gambling Compliance, Pallone told the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) that federal controls given by the proposed Gaming Accountability and Modernization Enhancement (GAME) Act were no longer sought by him.

“Right now, my own position is—and I’m only speaking for myself—that we shouldn’t move with any federal legislation [for sports betting],” he said.

Pallone also recognized that initiatives in New Jersey and other states have been a “tremendous success,” revenue-wise. Last August, New Jersey posted $9.2 million in sports wagering revenue, wherein $95.6 million of wagers was handled.

Unlike his other colleagues in the U.S. Congress, Senators Orrin Hatch and Charles Schumer, who doubt the states’ ability to handle a legalized sports betting industry, Pallone had filed his bill essentially to acknowledge state jurisdiction on most aspects of sports betting and online gambling.

House Bill 4530 would have provided “no federal liability” for gaming activity allowed at a state level, as well as ensured compliance of state regulations when a gaming facility did business in more than one state. Oversight for the sake of consumer protection would have been given to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). “It’s time to recognize that the [federal] laws are outdated, and the GAME Act will modernize them by increasing transparency, integrity, and consumer protections,” Pallone had said during the drafting of the bill.

The bill was filed in December 2017, six months before the U.S. Supreme Court repealed the 1992 Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA).

This is far from the end of attempts to craft federal legislation for the sector. Hatch, an author of PASPA, has lamented the lack of federal action as state-sanctioned sports betting continues its “race to the bottom.”