New York and South Carolina Consider Casino Bill
New York and South Carolina are looking to tackle the same legal issues concerning gambling these days. Both states are trying to pass new bills that will allow sports betting in the case of New York and in the case of South Carolina, casino gaming and horse racing as well. The New York State Senate saw S01282 proposed by five Democrats, while in South Carolina State Representative Todd Rutherford put forward House Joint Resolution H3102. Both bills aim to amend the respective state constitution so as to allow for regulated sports betting. Considering the fact that there is a federal ban on sports betting outside of the territory of Nevada, there is not much that these amendments can do, unless the ban is lifted by the US Supreme Court.
According to the New York Amendment, S01282 which is put forward by Senator Tony Avella, the state Senate should decide whether or not they will allow legal sports betting on professional and college sports at casinos, racetracks and off-track gambling houses. This is not the first attempt of Tony Avella to try and pass such legislation, however, not one of his previous attempts had any success. The main catch is that any law that state passes cannot bypass Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA).
The amendment of South Carolina introduced by Representative Todd Rutherford plans to introduce not only sports betting but also casino gaming activity and horse racing. Currently the State of South Carolina allows only for lottery, bingo on tribal land and casino cruises, which does not include brick-and-mortar casinos. Representative Rutherford proposed H3102 which will have to pass with the majority of votes in the houses and then the referendum.
The main obstacle in both cases is exactly, the aforementioned PASPA, also known as the “Bradley Act” brought in 1993, according to which sports betting is illegal in all states, with the exception of those states that legalized it before the law was brought: Oregon, Delaware, Montana and Nevada. Recently there have been many attempts by several states to repeal PASPA but they were unsuccessful. New Jersey has been trying for years to legalize sports betting but unfortunately it was all in vain. What makes matters even worse for New Jersey is that they had a chance to legalize it at the time PASPA was adopted and they failed to use it. However, New Jersey is not giving up. Their latest appeal with the US Third Circuit Court of Appeals is yet to be dealt with and the outcome of this appeal will largely influence New York’s and South Carolina’s plans for legalizing sports betting.
Another US state that is tackling legal issues concerning gambling is Massachusetts which is considering legalizing online gambling activities such as USA online casinos, fantasy sports and daily fantasy sports. State Treasurer Deborah Goldberg is planning to propose a bill that would allow online gambling and generate more revenue from gambling. The time frame gives her until summer to specify the state’s view on regulating online casino games including real money slots.
