U.S. Supreme Court Decision
In Murphy v. NCAA1, the U.S. Supreme Court held a 1992 law prohibiting states from allowing betting on sporting events to be unconstitutional. The Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA)2 had prohibited all sports lotteries except those allowed under state law at the time PASPA was passed. Delaware, Montana, Nevada, and Oregon all had state laws providing for sports wagering in 1992; however, Nevada was the only one of those states conducting sports wagering in a meaningful way between 1992 and 2018.
In 2011, New Jersey enacted a law authorizing sports betting. This law was struck down by federal district and appellate courts as a violation of PASPA as part of a challenge brought by five professional sports leagues. New Jersey later repealed the state law expressly authorizing sports wagering but did not replace it with language expressly prohibiting sports betting. Again, the sports leagues sued New Jersey, claiming that by not expressly prohibiting sports wagering, the state law effectively authorized sports gambling by implication. In 2018, the U.S. Supreme Court issued the Murphy ruling that PASPA was unconstitutional on the grounds that the federal law prohibited the modification or repeal of state law prohibitions and unlawfully regulated the actions of state legislatures.
State Action Since Murphy v. NCAA
As a result of the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling that PASPA is unconstitutional, states can legally regulate gambling on sporting events. Since the Murphy decision in May 2018, 48 states and the District of Columbia have legalized sports wagering or considered legislation or a ballot initiative related to legalizing the practice.
According to the American Gaming Association3, a total of 36 states and District of Columbia currently accept sports wagers, and 2 states have legalized sports betting but such betting is not yet operational. In 2023, Kentucky, North Carolina, and Vermont passed bills legalizing sports betting. Georgia, Minnesota, Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas, and South Carolina considered sports betting bills in 2023 but did not pass legislation during their legislative sessions.
The following map illustrates which states have legalized sports betting for individuals 18 or 21 years of age and older, states that have legalized sports betting but are not yet operational, and states where sports betting remains illegal.
Notable State Policies
In nearly every state with legal sports wagering, gamblers must be age 21 or older to place a wager. However, in District of Columbia, Montana, New Hampshire, New York (tribal casinos only), Rhode Island, Washington, and Wyoming, persons age 18 or older may place sports wagers.
Out of the 38 states with legal sports wagering (either active or pending implementation), 21 states and the District of Columbia restrict wagering on either local or collegiate teams, or on amateur sports: Arizona, Arkansas (restriction only on amateur sports), Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Tennessee, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin.
Six states (Arizona, Illinois, Michigan, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia) require the use of official league data for either proposition bets, in-play wagers, or both.
Kansas Tribal Casino Compact Resolutions
During the 2023 Legislative Session, HR 6026 and SR 1725 were adopted to approve an amendment to the gaming compact between Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation and the State of Kansas. The amendments create and amend provisions of the compact concerning sports wagering operations on the Nation’s reservation lands. The compact amendment was approved by the U.S. Interior Department’s Bureau of Indian Affairs in July 2023. Prairie Band Casino & Resort has stated they plan to launch sports betting before the end of 20234.
Tribal Casino Litigation
Sports wagering occurs at tribal casinos in many states that have legalized sports wagering. However, a legal challenge in Florida was filed in 2021 concerning the issue of whether a tribal casino may accept wagers placed off of tribal lands. That case, West Flagler Associates, Ltd. v. Haaland5, was appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court in October 2023. The U.S. Supreme Court later in October 2023 issued an order allowing the decision of the District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals to stand.6
The lawsuit was initially filed in 2021 by parimutuel companies West Flagler Associates and Bonita-Fort Myers Corp. in response to the 2021 compact between the State and the Seminole Tribe. Per the terms of the compact, mobile sports wagers could be placed anywhere in the state, with bets handled by computer servers on tribal property. Plaintiffs argue that the agreement is in conflict with a 2018 state constitutional amendment requiring voter approval of casino gambling in Florida. Although the U.S. Department of the Interior allowed the compact to move forward, the lawsuit alleges that the compact violates the federal Indian Gaming Regulatory Act7 because it would authorize gambling off tribal lands.
In 2021, a judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia issued a ruling setting aside approval of the compact, but that ruling was reversed by an appeals court panel in June 2023, and the full appeals court refused to reconsider the case in September 2023. In October 2023, the parimutuel companies filed a request for a stay at the U.S. Supreme Court (requesting that the appellate court decision be put on hold). In an unsigned order, the U.S. Supreme Court denied the stay request on October 25, 2023, which allowed the appellate decision reinstating the compact to stand.
As of October 30, 2023, a separate case (West Flager Associates, Ltd., et al. v. Ron D. DeSantis, etc., et al.) is pending before the Florida Supreme Court, seeking to invalidate the compact as it relates to off-reservation wagering and seeking a decision stating such off-reservation wagering could only be authorized through a voter-approved constitutional amendment.
- Murphy v. NCAA ,138 S.Ct. 1461 (2018) ↩︎
- 28 USC §3701, et seq. ↩︎
- https://www.americangaming.org/research/state-gaming-map/ ↩︎
- https://fox4kc.com/news/kansas-news/kansas-tribal-casino-gets-sports-betting-approval-quick-launch-expected/ ↩︎
- West Flagler Associates, Ltd., et al. v. Haaland, 71 F.4th 1059 (2023). ↩︎
- https://www.scotusblog.com/case-files/cases/west-flagler-associates-v-haaland/ ↩︎
- 25 USC §2701, et seq. ↩︎
by Leighann Thone, PhD
Research Analyst
785-296-4181