Legal US Online Sports Betting 2024

We are pleased to say that the 2018 repeal of PASPA has minimized the federal government's hold on domestic sports betting.

The Federal Wire Act does prevent any state-regulated venue from accepting any bets across state lines, but this is now the extent to which federal law places restrictions on the industry.

Individual states now have the authority to dictate their regulations, restrictions, and prohibitions. We have seen multiple states embrace this new freedom by passing legislation to authorize state-licensed venues, including online. 

Before PASPA's repeal, the  Federal Wire Act prohibited gambling through an electronic means or by phone. When this law was established, bookies were set up by the mob and were running illegal gambling operations in excess. This law was the method by which law enforcement could put an end to these operations.

While the law was previously used to prevent US-based online sports betting, the law now simply restricts interstate wagering.  Now that state-regulated sports gambling is no longer prohibited by the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act, the application of the Wire Act changed significantly.

In 2019, the DOJ revisited their stance on the Wire Act from 2011 and deemed it necessary that all types of gambling businesses and states licensing these services must make their operations completely intrastate and were given 90 days to comply to this new standard. Some states are ready to sue the new opinion. However, the opinion has been revised since to apply only to sports betting, as usual. 

PASPA, or the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act, prohibited 46 states from offering any type of regulated land based betting options. The law was passed in 1992 and exempted Nevada, Oregon, Montana and Delaware.

These 4 states already had some type of sports betting available so they were grandfathered in. All other states had a year to pass legislation that introduced regulated betting, but none did so.

For over 25 years, PASPA limited these 46 states from introducing any type of sports betting. Even the 4 exempted states could not introduce any new type of betting that wasn’t present at the time of PASPA’s enactment.

Only Nevada featured single-game wagering options. PASPA was overturned by the SCOTUS in 2018, and now each state can choose to legalize or prohibit sports betting at their pleasure.

Over time, sports betting grew increasingly popular and the demand for legal betting options grew. New Jersey attempted to circumvent PASPA by passing legislation that authorized its existing casino locations to offer sports wagering. The state was sued by the major sports leagues and the law was shut down by the federal government.

New Jersey decided to appeal the government’s action. They lost multiple times in lower circuit courts but somehow landed an audience with the US Supreme Court.

SCOTUS opened the case in December 2017 with oral arguments. After months of deliberation and testimony, SCOTUS ruled in favor of New Jersey and deemed PASPA unconstitutional.

The law was overturned as of May 14, 2018. This means that the 46 states once blocked by PASPA can now vote in legal sports betting should they choose to do so.

The third and final important gambling related law in the US is the UIGEA law, also known as the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, which does not affect the legality of player participation in online gambling, contrary to popular belief.

This law, in fact, provides regulatory oversight concerning how online gambling transactions can be processed. The Act does not address or target players in any way, nor does it prohibit US players from enjoying online gambling options.

The UIGEA is directed at payment processors and attempts to establish a safe and secure environment for processing gambling related transactions free of fraudulent and money laundering activities.